Search

This article collected papers published by Chinese archaeologists in Chinese and World core journals (CCJs and WCJs for short) in the past century. Based on bibliometric analysis, the general characteristics and trends of Chinese archaeology were summarized. In a macroscopic perspective, historiography-rooted archaeology focusing on historical periods and central areas of China and preferring traditional archaeological methods (mainly a culture-historical paradigm) will continue to occupy a leading position in China. Simultaneously, interdisciplinary research and internationalisation will likely continue to develop and diversify Chinese archaeology, though the speed is unknown due to the impact of the pandemic. In comparison, more attention needs to be paid to theoretical research and to publishing more results of historical archaeology in WCJs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Households on the Mimbres Horizon: Excavations at La Gila Encantada, Southwestern New Mexico" by Barbara J. Roth is a significant publication for Mimbres Mogollon research, providing insights into the development of households and their spatial and artifactual patterns at early Mimbres Mogollon habitation sites. The author's research at the La Gila Encantada site, uncluttered by overlying pueblo remains, allows for a clearer understanding of site layout, habitation, and contextual relationships of features and artifacts. The volume includes seven chapters, with contributions from specialists, covering topics such as excavation methods, ceramic data, stone artifacts, jewelry, and plant and animal remains. This book is valuable for researchers studying Mogollon archaeology and early village and household developments in the region. [Extracted from the article]

"Global Byzantium" is a book that aims to assess the world from the perspective of Byzantium and its relevance to global history. It challenges traditional barriers and shows that Byzantium's connectivity extended beyond the Mediterranean and European states. The book primarily focuses on documentary analysis and art-historical criticism rather than archaeological investigation. It includes papers on various topics such as the library of the Monastery of St Catherine, textile manufacture and exchange, the slave trade, Islam in the Mediterranean, connections between Byzantium and India and China, the Eurasian trading system, and the stucco decoration of Lombard monuments in Italy. The conclusion of the book discusses the role of archaeology in the politics of colonizing the Negev and similar semi-deserts. Overall, the book aims to put Byzantium back on the world stage and highlight its significant role in global connectivity. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: This paper provides practical advice for archaeologists and heritage specialists wishing to use ML approaches to identify archaeological features in high-resolution satellite imagery (or other remotely sensed data sources). We seek to balance the disproportionately optimistic literature related to the application of ML to archaeological prospection through a discussion of limitations, challenges and other difficulties. We further seek to raise awareness among researchers of the time, effort, expertise and resources necessary to implement ML successfully, so that they can make an informed choice between ML and manual inspection approaches. Design/methodology/approach: Automated object detection has been the holy grail of archaeological remote sensing for the last two decades. Machine learning (ML) models have proven able to detect uniform features across a consistent background, but more variegated imagery remains a challenge. We set out to detect burial mounds in satellite imagery from a diverse landscape in Central Bulgaria using a pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) plus additional but low-touch training to improve performance. Training was accomplished using MOUND/NOT MOUND cutouts, and the model assessed arbitrary tiles of the same size from the image. Results were assessed using field data. Findings: Validation of results against field data showed that self-reported success rates were misleadingly high, and that the model was misidentifying most features. Setting an identification threshold at 60% probability, and noting that we used an approach where the CNN assessed tiles of a fixed size, tile-based false negative rates were 95–96%, false positive rates were 87–95% of tagged tiles, while true positives were only 5–13%. Counterintuitively, the model provided with training data selected for highly visible mounds (rather than all mounds) performed worse. Development of the model, meanwhile, required approximately 135 person-hours of work. Research limitations/implications: Our attempt to deploy a pre-trained CNN demonstrates the limitations of this approach when it is used to detect varied features of different sizes within a heterogeneous landscape that contains confounding natural and modern features, such as roads, forests and field boundaries. The model has detected incidental features rather than the mounds themselves, making external validation with field data an essential part of CNN workflows. Correcting the model would require refining the training data as well as adopting different approaches to model choice and execution, raising the computational requirements beyond the level of most cultural heritage practitioners. Practical implications: Improving the pre-trained model's performance would require considerable time and resources, on top of the time already invested. The degree of manual intervention required – particularly around the subsetting and annotation of training data – is so significant that it raises the question of whether it would be more efficient to identify all of the mounds manually, either through brute-force inspection by experts or by crowdsourcing the analysis to trained – or even untrained – volunteers. Researchers and heritage specialists seeking efficient methods for extracting features from remotely sensed data should weigh the costs and benefits of ML versus manual approaches carefully. Social implications: Our literature review indicates that use of artificial intelligence (AI) and ML approaches to archaeological prospection have grown exponentially in the past decade, approaching adoption levels associated with "crossing the chasm" from innovators and early adopters to the majority of researchers. The literature itself, however, is overwhelmingly positive, reflecting some combination of publication bias and a rhetoric of unconditional success. This paper presents the failure of a good-faith attempt to utilise these approaches as a counterbalance and cautionary tale to potential adopters of the technology. Early-majority adopters may find ML difficult to implement effectively in real-life scenarios. Originality/value: Unlike many high-profile reports from well-funded projects, our paper represents a serious but modestly resourced attempt to apply an ML approach to archaeological remote sensing, using techniques like transfer learning that are promoted as solutions to time and cost problems associated with, e.g. annotating and manipulating training data. While the majority of articles uncritically promote ML, or only discuss how challenges were overcome, our paper investigates how – despite reasonable self-reported scores – the model failed to locate the target features when compared to field data. We also present time, expertise and resourcing requirements, a rarity in ML-for-archaeology publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper describes a collaboration between Wilyakali Indigenous Custodians and a group of archaeologists. This collaboration has generated a shared and integrated understanding of the cultural landscape, Ancestral Creation Histories, and archaeology of the Broken Hill region of western New South Wales. The Broken Hill landscape is ancient beyond imagination, and complex geological processes/Creation Histories have resulted in distinctive landscape features and resources including quartz suitable for stone artefact manufacture. Wilyakali stone knappers employed specialised and varied technological processes to overcome the diverse and sometimes intractable nature of the quartz material, resulting in efficient use of this local stone resource. Wilyakali interpret the Country through their knowledge of the travelling sacred Bronzewing Pigeon and its creation of landscape features and resources such as quartz and water. Empirical archaeological data complement traditional knowledge, with the two ways of knowing coming together to reconstruct a nuanced interpretation of the cultural landscape. This shared narrative has had ongoing and inter‐generational benefits to the Wilyakali people, with knowledge communicated to younger generations by Elders, enabling them to interpret both the archaeology and Ancestral Creation Histories with confidence. This paper also highlights the inconsistent recognition of Indigenous ways of knowing and connection in Aboriginal cultural heritage assessments in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Landscape‐scale LiDAR‐based studies are becoming increasingly prevalent in archaeology, mainly focusing on detecting archaeological sites to create datasets for spatial analysis. However, the representativeness of these datasets in accurately reflecting the surviving distributions of archaeological sites has often been overlooked. This paper discusses issues of sampling and representativeness in LiDAR‐derived datasets, particularly within the scope of large‐scale landscape studies in Mediterranean contexts. Drawing insights from the Ancient Hillforts Survey, which analysed 15 296 km2 in south‐central Italy, the study examines the variability in the visibility of different site typologies in open‐source but low‐resolution LiDAR data. Through an examination of hillforts, platform farms, settlements, field systems, traces of Roman centuriation, and transhumance routes, the paper highlights significant variability in the identification and mapping within and across different site types. Recognizing the need to account for this variability in the development of spatial analysis, the paper discusses the use of sampling areas to address this variability. This approach aims to effectively mitigate potential biases in analysis, emphasizing the necessity for nuanced methodologies in interpreting LiDAR data for archaeological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irving has done an excellent job in describing Childe's political journey and mapping it onto his prehistoric archaeological scholarship in a way that enhances both. While many of Childe's specific proposals about European history have either been amended or have evolved to the point where he no longer remains a touchstone, European archaeology still operates in the framework largely created by Childe's grand syntheses. After this Childe found work as private secretary to John Storey, NSW Labor member for Balmain, first in opposition and then in government, Storey becoming Premier in 1920. [Extracted from the article]

The Royal Archaeological Institute is inviting researchers, academics, and professionals in the field of archaeology to submit original research for publication in The Archaeological Journal. The Journal, which has been published since 1844, welcomes articles, reports, and analyses on all periods of human history, with a focus on England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Ireland. The Journal is known for its high-quality academic publications and its ability to publish both shorter research articles and larger reports and studies. All submitted manuscripts undergo initial appraisal by the Editor and are then subject to double-blind peer review. The print version of the journal is published annually, but all papers are made available online shortly after acceptance. [Extracted from the article]

Archaeologies of Slavery and Freedom in the Caribbean: Exploring the Spaces in Between: edited by Lynsey A. Bates, John M. Chenoweth, and James A. Delle, University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 2016. ix, 358 pp., ill., maps. The volume concludes with remarks by Laurie Wilkie (Chapter 14) who draws on her own deep experience with plantation archaeology in both the Bahamas and the southeastern United States, to synthesize the preceding chapters and reflect on which "spaces in between" remain understudied. Seiter points out how on many small islands, sugar monoculture was slow to develop as the climate, challenging topography, and political instability were impediments to sugar cultivation and plantation slavery. [Extracted from the article]

Following the discussions of how to define a city, in Chapter 4 Storey guides the reader through case studies of primary cities. In his primer on ancient urbanism, Glenn Storey provides an introductory text that encompasses many crucial topics across a range of past urban sites. Storey classifies cities into "hyper" and "hypo" cities, which are compact high-density or physically large areas of with low-density populations, respectively. [Extracted from the article]

Thoughtful members of the broader anthropological and archaeological community will recognize many of the themes of Kehoe's work and appreciate the resonance with current challenges and discussions in the academic community. Kehoe mentions a few times throughout her memoir her recent project working on a book titled I Archaeologies of Listening i (Peter R. Schmidt and Alice B. Kehoe, editors). I Girl Archaeologist: Sisterhood in a Sexist Profession i is Alice Beck Kehoe's memoir - it recounts her explorations in archaeology (broadly defined) and the changes she experienced and witnessed in the profession. [Extracted from the article]

Twenty-four years ago, the National Heritage Resources Act, No. 25 of 1999 (NHRA) was enacted in South Africa. This was a moment of change, when the heritage of those marginalised during the colonial and Apartheid eras would finally be given its rightful place on the national heritage list. There was a sense of optimism amongst politicians that the African past was finally to be recognised in an inclusive and representative future. This was echoed in archaeology, given its central role in uncovering and telling the story of precolonial South Africa. The discipline slowly opened its doors to academics of all ethnic groups and new perspectives were identified. But an examination of the practical consequences and impact of this progressive legislation for transforming officially declared heritage in the past 24 years shows surprisingly little change in the overall body of recognized, listed heritage. Recent studies of transformation in South African archaeology have focussed on institutional transformation; possible transformation of the types and frequency of sites declared as national and provincial heritage sites has not yet been examined. It is this issue which our paper addresses. The paper presents analysis that relies on the South African Heritage Resources Information System (SAHRIS) database covering the period 1936 to mid-2022. Whilst sites associated with European colonialism still predominate, there has been a change in the frequency of types of heritage declared since 1999, with an increase in sites associated with the Black liberation struggle. Yet the list remains very unbalanced, with only a single heritage site connected to the precolonial past of Black South Africans having been declared as a national heritage site since 1999. We discuss and classify the types of heritage declared since 1999 and suggest reasons for the distortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Colonial Period, Maya communities underwent significant social and religious transformations. This paper investigates how the Maya communities of Lamanai, Belize maintained resilience in the 16th century. By examining ethnohistorical and archaeological evidence at Lamanai, especially zoomorphic effigies at two Christian churches, the study demonstrates that resilience was not solely a product of human agency but also arose from engagement with other species and materials. Drawing influence from process philosophy, this paper redefines resilience as a dynamic and creative process encompassing active adaptation, reorganisation, and transformation. It argues that the ability to cross boundaries is essential to resilience. Maya communities were able to transcend the boundaries of properties, entities, realities, and cultures, which enabled them to re-envision their relationships with others and the world. Boundary-crossing allowed them to navigate complex changes with ease and integrate diverse cultural elements into their identity, ultimately fostering resilience in the face of colonial challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A fully digital methodology for pottery sherd analysis is proposed. • The method consists of two main parts: 3D acquisition and geometric model processing. • 3D acquisition method is based on the structure for motion technologies. • The processing implements elements of archeologists' knowledge to analyze sherds. • The method was applied to 133 Phoenician amphorae sherds excavated at Tell el-Burak. • The results show the potential for objectively analyzing large amounts of sherds. • New morphological features are introduced for fragments classification. Over the last few years, significant interest has been addressed in developing computer-based methods to document and analyze fragments of ceramics sherds in archaeology. This is because traditional manual processes do not allow for an objective, repeatable, and reproducible analysis of the large quantities of material needed to fully understand and explain human practices in various cultural contexts, such as the economy, daily life, and the material expression of religious beliefs. In that context, this paper proposes a fully digital methodology resulting from the constitution of an international research group coming from different scientific backgrounds: archaeologists with specific skills and experience in fast 3D geometry acquisition methods and researchers who developed and published the only available computer-based process for recognizing the geometric and morphological sherds features analyzed by archaeologists. The proposed methodology consists of two main parts: 1. 3D acquisition of sherds with the construction of the discrete 3D manifold model based on the Structure for Motion technologies; 2. recognition, segmentation, and dimensional characterization of morphological and geometrical features based on the codification and algorithmic implementation of the knowledge used by the archeologists in the traditional method. The method was applied to analyze a set of 133 sherds excavated at Tell el-Burak (Lebanon) to obtain, through the analysis of the namely Phoenician carinated-shoulder amphorae, new insights into the economic organization of the Phoenician homeland. The method demonstrated the potential for objectively, repeatedly, and reproducibly analyzing large quantities of sherds. Furthermore, it allowed studying sherds by generating new high-level knowledge from those acquired from 3D models; in particular, this paper introduces new morphological features that help the archaeologist classify fragments from an analysis of the rim's shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• It is necessary for experts to evaluate their conservation proposals by examining how non-professionals perceive them. • Luminance changes better support recognizing new elements than textural distinctions. • Eye-tracker responds better to scientific needs than to design needs of architects and conservators. • Consultation based on simpler methods of research should be conducted prior to the use of an eye-tracker. Eye trackers are more and more often employed by scientists willing to learn more about how cultural heritage is perceived. However, designers very seldom make use of this technology, primarily perhaps due to its expensive and time-consuming nature. By choosing not to employ eye trackers they limit themselves to their own ideas and choices, at the same time forfeiting all the potential advantages of social consultations with non-professionals. One can easily imagine that their work and its effects would only benefit should a way be found to make eye-tracking tests more logistically and financially feasible or if another measure was established that would make it possible to learn the visual reactions of regular people. This paper focuses on perception of anastylosis. There are numerous types of damaged structures that get reassembled and multiple ways of doing that. While most doctrinal documents assert that the original object and the added elements should be easily distinguishable, the two solutions, most often chosen by designers is to make the cavity fillings differ in either texture or luminance from the original material. It is obvious that this results in a large range of solutions to choose from – from shallow indentations in the stone surface to deep ones, from stone just a shade brighter than the original to a distinct cream-white one. Since it is impossible to test all the possible variations using eye trackers, the authors of this paper tried a different approach. Eleven different virtual images were prepared of the same reassembled ionic column. They varied in the level of modifications applied to either the texture or the luminance of the cavity fillings. The entire set of eleven stimuli was then shown to a group of professionals in the field of architecture and/or conservation of monuments. They were asked to choose the best stimuli, that is those that facilitate the differentiation of the old and new parts of the structure by non-professionals. Thus, reduced set of three stimuli was then used in an eye-tracking tests involving over 100 participants. The eye-tracking data, combined with the results of previous research on the perception of anastylosis allowed the authors to formulate several conclusions. It turned out that the images selected by the professionals were far from those that would potentially stimulate and help non-professionals the most. However, the obtained information allowed formulating a few basic guidelines as to the use of differences in texture and luminance in anastylosis. It also made it possible to find a financially and logistically feasible alternative to the demanding eye-tracking tests when it comes to introducing social consultations into the designing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioarchaeology lacks a system for recording the morphology of muscle and ligament attachment sites, called entheses, in growing individuals. Such information is useful in investigating factors that affect bone growth and development, including sex, age, puberty, pathology, and activity. This paper presents a standardized recording method for nonadult entheses based on 29 archaeological individuals of archivally known sex and age-at-death, ranging from two to 17 years. This paper (a) assesses the range of osseous changes of 16 entheses in the upper and lower limbs of growing individuals, and (b) presents a scoring method for each enthesis, which is evaluated through inter-and intra-observer comparisons. Nonadult entheses show a wide range of morphological variation. Method reproducibility is established. This method will allow researchers to further investigate factors affecting bone development in nonadult skeletal remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

However, the comprehensive exposition and discussions of the merits/shortcomings of proxies, methodologies, etc., should be regarded as essential reading for student and professional alike, particularly given the easy narrative writing style of the authors. They illustrate how settlement area may not be the best population proxy in all settlement scenarios (for Chifeng, although statistically significant, it is a comparatively poor proxy). Determining the best practice for elucidating settlement demography as an integral part of cultural reconstruction clearly requires thoughtful planning in the data-collection phase and an understanding of the differential merits of the material culture for meaningfully reconstructing the settlement landscape. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the ongoing conflicts in various countries, including Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Myanmar, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic. It emphasizes the importance of studying the archaeology and history of conflict to understand the reality of mass violence and its impact on communities. The article also highlights the need for diverse perspectives and the inclusion of indigenous voices in conflict archaeology research. Additionally, it presents summaries of three papers published in the Journal of Conflict Archaeology, focusing on topics such as the preservation of a Civil War battlefield, glass artifacts from World War I, and the military archaeology of the Italian occupation of Croatia during World War II. [Extracted from the article]

The role of news media in the dissemination of archaeological research is beginning to receive some attention, but this is inadequate when considering the scale of the news media as a tool for public archaeology and mass-distribution of archaeological research in digital news sites. Archaeology needs to urgently address this oversight and begin to construct appropriate and sustainable working relationships with the news media, founded on a critical evaluation of current strategies, to regulate the information that is disseminated through this medium. This paper takes a British perspective, though the themes and necessary improvements have global significance. I suggest that we begin to appreciate the role of the archaeologist in the construction of knowledge through the mass media by embracing ‘archaeo-media’- a neologism here proposed to explore the intersections and interactions between archaeology and news media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, Italy has been at the forefront of mass migration flows. Starting from the late 1990s, facilities for the detention and expulsion of undocumented migrants have been established. In this paper, we analyse one of the earliest examples of such structures in the Mediterranean: the former temporary holding facility (or C.P.T. Centro di Permanenza Temporanea) ‘Regina Pacis’ located in south-eastern Italy. In 1997, the structure was repurposed into one of the largest C.P.T in Italy until its closure in 2005. Through an approach that combines archaeology and ethnography, we aim to understand the role that material culture played in subjugating and controlling the life of the migrants, attempting to evaluate, at the same time, the impact that the facility had on its hosting community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Tok stori, a Melanesian pidgin term meaning “conversate or share stories”, has emerged over the last decade as a Melanesian research methodology in the fields of education, pedagogy and leadership. This paper contributes to this scholarship by exploring the value of its application to the conceptualisation and practice of archaeological research in Solomon Islands. From our perspectives as Solomon Islander archaeologists, we reflect on our experiences engaging in tok stori with two communities from Santa Isabel and Lauru (Choiseul) while undertaking field work. We use these examples to demonstrate the highly dynamic nature of tok stori in research, serving as a mechanism to build trust and reciprocal relationships centred upon shared social values, but also to facilitate more transactional partnerships fixated on negotiating financial “benefits”. Drawing from our experiences, we also discuss key challenges facing archaeological practice in Solomon Islands. These are a lack of awareness of the purpose and values of archaeological research, and a legacy of monetary enticement we refer to as a “handout mentality” generated by extractive industries. Tok stori, we contend, can aid in navigating these challenges and serves as a valuable research tool for archaeologists due to its adaptability and the cultural bearing it holds for Melanesian peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PAMHOP (The Physical And Mental Health of Older Prisoners) is an inter- and transdisciplinary project funded by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The project has two principal aims: to better understand the physical and common mental health needs of older people within the criminal justice system; and to assess the implementation of some novel tailored interventions that might benefit this community and shape policy, thus reducing costs for the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). One intervention was a historic environment project that involved map-based landscape regression, and historic building recording work. This paper describes this intervention and assesses its impacts, including those related to policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, maritime trade has been a major driver of economic growth and cross-cultural interchange, especially in antiquity. Because of its advantageous position and extensive maritime history, the Persian Gulf has been essential in bridging cultures and promoting the exchange of ideas and products. This article explores the historical evidence of maritime trade in the Persian Gulf, emphasising its revolutionary influence on the region’s history, especially during the pivotal Bronze Age. The article also emphasises how important it is to acknowledge the Persian Gulf’s historical significance as a crucial commerce route connecting Europe, Africa, and East and West Asia. The paper uses these realisations to support the growth of Chabahar Port as a pillar of economic independence and regional collaboration. Through the application of historical lessons and the embracement of sustainable maritime trade, the Persian Gulf and the Makoran Sea have the potential to resurface as centres of cultural and economic interaction, thereby promoting global wealth and connectedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The traces of marks left by human bodies on surviving archaeological artefacts can be a rich and informative source for understanding everyday individuals and their practices in the past. Nevertheless, such traces have tended to be neglected or generalized in archaeology, in favour of elite artefacts and manufacturing statistics – or in pursuit of 'clean', forensically amenable evidence, e.g. dry fingerprints. Using two case studies from Bronze Age Crete, this paper calls for an attitudinal, as much as a methodological, shift in how we exploit the remnants of gestural preferences, limitations and mistakes which we have hitherto chosen to dismiss. I argue that, if we want to understand nameless individuals of past societies, we need to overcome our implicit aversion to the mundane and everyday and to find new ways of exploring the 'messy', inconvenient, but also abundant fleeting moments of bodies no longer extant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rituals are central to the everyday life of the nurse, yet the fundamental roles that rituals play in caring for the dead and dying has often been neglected. This paper explores modern palliative and post-mortem care – its practices, practitioners and arenas – against the background of long-held, global concerns regarding the dead and dying. Comparison with the archaeological and ethnographic records demonstrates the ubiquitous and enduring practices surrounding death, and the centrality of ritual specialists to this complex social and biological process. This deep-time perspective highlights the importance of nurses, and their associated nursing rituals, in the transition of patients between life and death, and the difficult journeys that nurse, patient and family undertake in this mediation between worlds. Such a perspective not only empowers nurses in their daily practices, and places nursing rituals firmly at the centre of modern palliative care work, but demonstrates the value of archaeology and ethnography in contextualising the challenges of today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the hypothesis that Waun Mawn in West Wales provided the bluestone monoliths that were used at Stonehenge. Some archaeologists believe that the site supports the last remains of a giant stone circle or 'Proto Stonehenge' which was dismantled and transported to Salisbury Plain around 5000 years ago. It was claimed, after three excavation seasons at Waun Mawn in 2017, 2018 and 2021, that there is firm evidence of some standing stones which were later removed or broken up, but it has still not been demonstrated that there ever was a small stone circle here, let alone a 'giant' one. Furthermore, there have been no control studies in the neighbourhood which might demonstrate that the speculative feature has any unique characteristics. There is nothing at Waun Mawn to link this site in any way to Stonehenge, and this is confirmed by recent cited research. No evidence has been brought forward in support of the claim that 'this was one of the great religious and political centres of Neolithic Britain'. It is concluded that at Waun Mawn and elsewhere in West Wales there has been substantial 'interpretative inflation' driven by the desire to demonstrate a Stonehenge connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As arid lands expand across the globe, scholars increasingly turn to the archaeological record for examples of sustainable farming in extreme environments. The arid north coast of Peru was the setting of early and intensive irrigation-based farming; it is also periodically impacted by sudden, heavy rainfall related to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. While the sociopolitical effects, technologies, and engineering expertise of these irrigation systems have been thoroughly examined and theorized, little is known about how farmers managed periods of water stress. The aim of this study is to test whether arid zone farming was supported by hybrid, intermittent flood and perennial water source systems in the prehispanic past. An arroyo in the Chicama Valley was selected for preliminary data collection, and these data are presented here: (1) drone photography of the arroyo capturing the aftermath of a recent (2023) rain event; and (2) potassium (K) soil test kit results from samples collected near suspected prehispanic check dam features in the same area. The paper combines these data with comparative examples from the literature to suggest that the prehispanic features functioned as water-harvesting infrastructure. The paper concludes that sustainable, arid zone farming can be supported by hybrid, intermittent flood and perennial water source systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with an analysis of Tennie's account of hominin culture: the claims that cumulative culture depends on a distinctive form of social learning; that that form of social learning is absent in the great apes; that its archaeological signature in the hominin lineage is late; and, finally, that the forms of social learning available to apes and probably earlier hominins only accelerated their pathways to skills they could acquire for themselves. This synthesis is bold, and influential, and hence an appropriate target of critical reflection. But the further aim of the paper is to develop an alternative view of cumulative culture and its relation to our lineage. It accepts the view that copying is one aspect of cumulative culture. But the paper argues that cumulative culture depends as well on integrating information from a variety of social and nonsocial sources and through an array of sensory modalities. It is not mostly a matter of copying from models but is socially guided re-creation of the model's skill. On this alternative view of cumulative culture, first, copying plays a less central role, and, second, cultures become cumulative not just through the incremental improvement of existing capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers new insights into the under-researched rural maritime sites of Cyprus's north-eastern coast of the Early Byzantine period. It focuses on the likewise under-researched coastal site at Aphendrika and its natural harbour bay in the eastern part of the Karpas peninsula, which can probably be identified with the ancient Hellenistic Urania. Its few built and rock-cut harbour facilities and the remains of the rural economy, such as weightstones and press-beds linked to olive oil production, were investigated and documented by non-invasive methods, by a ground- and aerial survey. A considerable amount of surface sherds from the harbour bay, its shallow water and the bay's close surroundings were rescued from further destruction and disappearance, transferred to the archaeological depot, documented and typologically classified. Based on a few limited earlier studies about the historic site at Aphendrika, on the analysis of other ancient Cypriot sites with harbours or anchorages and on our own site analyses the paper argues that the harbour and its largely unknown settlement served as a gateway emporion which connected the coast with its local hinterland and attracted especially coastal maritime traffic. The amphora spectrum is predominantly Eastern Mediterranean, among which the Late Roman Amphora 1 dominates. Abundant traces of lever-and-screw presses attest to a surplus production which certainly was exported through the harbour. The rural economy was probably controlled by a local elite. This elite who has similarly been attested for Early Byzantine sites at the south coast of Cyprus materializes through two 6th-century churches and a single marble pilaster capital which might derive from a wealthy rural estate. Finally, the results from Aphendrika were embedded into data gained from a map-, literature- and physical survey concerning previously known and potentially new ancient harbour or anchorage sites on the nort h-eastern coast of Cyprus, between Kyrenia and Cape Andreas. The identification of potentially new sites is based on specifically developed indicative criteria, leading to the conclusion that the maritime activity on the island's north coast was more intensive than described in previous scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The passing of Russell Coope in 2011 brought an end to a vigorous, dynamic research career that launched the field of Quaternary entomology. This issue of Quaternary International is composed mostly of papers given in his honour in June, 2012 at Royal Holloway University of London. It comprises 21 papers that cover a wide range of topics. The reconstruction of British Pleistocene environments was arguably Coope's most important contribution to science. Three papers containing previously unpublished Middle and Late Pleistocene beetle faunas and their interpretations are included here. A discussion paper on the origins of the insect faunas of North Atlantic islands echoes another of Coope's research interests, as do two studies of late glacial climates of northwest Europe. A suite of several papers discussing the environmental archaeology of sites ranging in age from the Bronze Age to the early 20th century honour Coope's pioneering work in this field. Pleistocene research from sites in North America and Japan complete the volume, followed by descriptions of two large-scale insect fossil databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical maps depict landscapes as they once were, and include evidence for a wide range of information, including settlement distribution, land use, natural resources, transport networks, toponymy, and other natural and cultural data within an explicitly spatial context. Maps produced before the expansion of large-scale mechanized agriculture reflect a landscape that is lost today, and there is a growing awareness that these historical maps record information about the distribution of archaeological sites, many of which are now no longer visible. This paper will present the ongoing work of the Mapping Archaeological Heritage in South Asia (MAHSA) project, led by the University of Cambridge. We focus here on some of the problems and potential solutions relating to the use of digitised historic Survey of India maps for archaeological research, and their relationship to the libraries which house them. We explore the issues encountered when working to follow best practice in meeting the dual aims of: a) meeting the archaeological research aim of extracting, analysing, and recording geospatial data from historic maps sheets; and b) producing an accessible, interoperable resource that links across different repositories and media formats. This case study stems from coordination between the MAHSA Project and two UK Legal Deposit libraries. The aim is to obtain information that is archaeologically relevant, and to make digitised and georeferenced Survey of India maps available openly for the wider public and research community, while also serving the cataloguing and research needs of the participating organisations. Pakistan and western India are extremely rich in archaeological and cultural heritage sites, which span in date from the earliest villages, through several phases of urbanism, the rise and fall of numerous historical states and empires, and up to the colonial and modern periods. Today, many areas are densely occupied and undergoing rapid development, so many sites are at risk, typically from factors including erosion, large-scale development, looting, and the expansion of extensive irrigation agriculture and the concomitant levelling of large tracts of land. Archaeological site destruction has been observed in the field and is ongoing, and the level and rate of site loss is largely unmonitored. The MAHSA project is developing heritage management tools and expertise that will work towards addressing these threats to archaeological sites and monuments. The project is documenting the endangered archaeology and cultural heritage of the Indus River Basin and the surrounding areas, and will publish this information in an Open Access geospatial database using the Arches online database platform, which uses the CIDOC-Conceptual Resource Model ontology (http://www.cidoc-crm.org/). It aspires to become sustainable by being the default management database for local heritage stakeholders through a programme of collaboration and training. Digitising historic maps is a major component of the MAHSA project workflow, which integrates three approaches to identify archaeological and cultural heritage sites, document them, and then make these data openly available. These are: i) collating and systematising the existing published data on archaeological and cultural heritage sites; ii) using historic maps, remote sensing and automated site detection methods to identify and document previously unidentified archaeological and cultural heritage sites; and iii) collaborating with local stakeholders and offering training in GIS, methods of site detection, recording of sites on the ground, and documentation (Figure 1). Previous research has shown that the colour maps issued by the Survey of India from 1905 to 1941 document the location of thousands of mound features that are often archaeological sites (Petrie et al. 2019). Generated as a legacy of Britain's colonial past, paper copies of these maps are held in UK Legal Deposit libraries, which house hundreds of these historic map sheets, many of which remain available only in paper form, or as text-catalogued digital images (as opposed to georeferenced map objects). The extent of the overlap between the collections is currently under review, but together these collections represent a vast analogue dataset that currently exist largely as bibliographic objects with their own historic and visual value. If these maps are fully digitised and georeferenced, however, they have the potential to offer detailed geospatial data about archaeological sites and monuments which predates much of the development and land use changes seen in recent decades. These maps also encode information relevant to a wide range of other disciplines. As part of the workflow, MAHSA is also making use of machine learning approaches to detect specific features and words that are documented on maps that have a specific archaeological relevance (Garcia-Molsosa et al. 2021). Although this represents a very specific application of machine learning, these approaches can be readily adapted to a wide range of other applications. Once digitised and georeferenced, historic maps exist as a multifaced resource: as images in their own right; as holders of bibliographic and historic information; as signposts to larger datasets; and as containers of geospatial data (in both paper and digital form). With paper copies held, curated, and distributed across nationally important library collections, the digitisation process must therefore serve a wide variety of end users, with the resulting output of digitised maps following best practice in meeting the data standards of all stakeholders, including those in digital spaces (Hyland, Atemezing, and Villazón-Terrazas 2014). As public bodies, UK Legal Deposit libraries are working to make collections increasingly available online for both public consumption and research purposes. The MAHSA project is therefore working to meet these multiple angles of data creation, curation, and dissemination. One way in which these requirements can be met is to enable digitised historic maps to exist as data objects that adhere to the principles of Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) in their generation, curation, analysis, and dissemination. This also contributes to their compliance with open access FAIR data principles, aiming to make maps-as-data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (Wilkinson et al. 2016). The MAHSA project is approaching this problem by working to make georeferenced digitised historic maps available through the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF). IIIF facilitates open access to images, by making use of JSON-LD, linked data and standard W3C web protocols (Babcock and Di Cresce 2019). The final step in this workflow is the creation of a geospatial search portal, which is able to point users to the appropriate library holdings. Historic maps will be linked/related as information resources to the individual heritage resources in the MAHSA Arches database, pointing back to library holdings, and enabling historic maps to be found, accessed, and used by a wide variety of users. We use this case study to examine the implementation of best practices in both workflow and data standardisation when working with multiple stakeholders. We evaluate aspects of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of such requirements, and explore how to feed the lessons learned during so far with our own particular case study back into the improvement cycle for LOUD-compliant data solutions for digitised historic maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of scholarship exploring Cambodia’s cultural-religious environment alongside reinterpretations of ancient Angkorian epigraphy has illuminated the enduring sacredness of Cambodia’s ancient religious places and objects. This assertion comes despite apparent dissociation of these elements from their original ascribed identities (Brahmano-Buddhist) and disuse as focal points of politico-religious congregation at some point in the past. Although documented within Cambodian archaeological studies since the 20th century, fieldwork conducted at ancient Theravāda Buddhist monasteries (vihāra/praḥ vihār) within the Khmer civic-ceremonial center of Angkor Thom between 2017 and 2023 have substantiated that these ancient statues and holy spaces continued to serve as equivalently spiritual, highly localized arenas of ancestral animist practices and cultural-historical negotiation over time. This paper assesses several categories of these archaeological data within the framework of reidentification, reuse, and transformation beyond initial discard, including the deposition of statuary and acts of place-making in the vicinity of older ruins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Definition: The history of women archaeologists in Portugal and their contribution to the development of the discipline is yet to be studied. However, in recent years, some articles published in Portugal have contributed to the construction of this history. Some of these are from the year 2020, and although the coronavirus pandemic has affected the progress of these investigations, especially regarding fieldwork. Generally, these are quantitative studies based on the number of publications by women archaeologists and their references and interviews in newspapers. These articles, which require significant time for database analysis, have not yet explained the existing gaps. It is not the scope of this paper to pursue this quantitative scope; instead, it intends to conduct a qualitative analysis of the contribution of women archaeologists to the development of prehistoric studies in Northern Portugal. To achieve this goal, we are focusing on analysing the doctoral theses developed by women concerning pre- and proto-historic archaeology in Northern Portugal. With this evaluation, we intend to contribute to the history of Portuguese women's archaeology and, at the same time, highlight their methodological and conceptual achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents, from an approach of archaeothanatology, osteobiography, bioarchaeology of care and palimpsest, the analysis of one of the most important archaeological findings recently made in western Mexico. It is about a female person buried in a lavish tomb in the Tingambato archaeological site, Michoacán, Mexico, dated 1400 years ago, with more than 19,000 objects covering her body. This research presents the results of the work of almost a decade of studies carried out by different methods on this individual: morphophysical studies, taphonomy, dating, genetics, as well as various techniques of virtual archaeology among others. Through the Index of Care it was possible to systematize all the information obtained by different study methods and integrate it for analysis. The use of archaeothanatology and the Index of Care makes it possible to perform analyses on specific individuals from the past to establish their health conditions and the probable causes of death. The main limitation that arose was the poor state of preservation in which we received the bones, which unfortunately did not allow us to carry out some morphoscopic and taphonomic studies that would have been relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gobustan, a prehistoric site 60 km south of Baku, has an impressive collection of rock carvings from different prehistoric eras. Near the site, a national museum presents the prehistoric findings in a narrative that connects them with modern-day Azerbaijan, calling the hunter–gatherer tribes that lived in Gobustan 'our ancient Azerbaijani ancestors'. While many nation-building projects dig deep into the past, reconstruct it, claim ancient civilizations as their own and sometimes even invent historical narratives that never happened, the Gobustan Museum and the narrative it implies (that prehistoric people living in 15,000 BCE were Azerbaijanis) seems like 'overkill', an exaggerated effort to connect the past and the present. The data from the museum points to a larger story: the construction of national identity and collective memory in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. This paper presents some of the author's anthropological field research findings in the museum and explains why the narrative of 'ancientness' is so essential in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 1 August 2002, the Allahabad High Court in India, adjudicating the Ayodhya Case, ordered archaeological excavations by the central government agency Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at the site of the demolished mosque Babri Masjid in Uttar Pradesh. The order marked a new moment for the convergence of law and archaeology in India, with archaeological knowledge being produced on judicial demand as evidence in a civil dispute. This paper argues that this marked the emergence of a hybrid episteme of archaeology-as-legal-evidence which redefines archaeology within the framework of law. It traces these tendencies by a close reading of three documents: the judgements of the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court in the Ayodhya Case and an order issued by a lower court in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on 8 April 2021 in the GyanVapi Case. I argue that the new role that archaeology is assuming in courtrooms in India is destabilising the standing of the ASI as the authority of archaeological knowledge and the protector of the nation's material past. It has also produced a category of assertive public that successfully demands production of archaeological knowledge towards ideological ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications for use in heritage research is increasingly appreciated. In specific areas, notably remote sensing, datasets have increased in extent and resolution to the point that manual interpretation is problematic and the availability of skilled interpreters to undertake such work is limited. Interpretation of the geophysical datasets associated with prehistoric submerged landscapes is particularly challenging. Following the Last Glacial Maximum, sea levels rose by 120 m globally, and vast, habitable landscapes were lost to the sea. These landscapes were inaccessible until extensive remote sensing datasets were provided by the offshore energy sector. In this paper, we provide the results of a research programme centred on AI applications using data from the southern North Sea. Here, an area of c. 188,000 km2 of habitable terrestrial land was inundated between c. 20,000 BP and 7000 BP, along with the cultural heritage it contained. As part of this project, machine learning tools were applied to detect and interpret features with potential archaeological significance from shallow seismic data. The output provides a proof-of-concept model demonstrating verifiable results and the potential for a further, more complex, leveraging of AI interpretation for the study of submarine palaeolandscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses challenges inherent in disputes about the reconstruction of built heritage in Kosova, exploring justifications for approval or denial of permits for reconstruction at archaeological sites in the specific political context. To illustrate how standards and principles of conservation, and specifically, of reconstruction, affect decision-making, we present and discuss three sites. Thus, we contribute, through the Kosova experience, to international debate, both empirically and contextually, about the correlation of international standards and principles of conservation and reconstruction, and their impact and perception in the national context. The experience of Kosova shows that adherence to international cultural heritage principles, conventions and policies, within a highly politicized discourse of heritage, is paramount to ensure impartial heritage protection, especially in the rebuilding of ruins. Attempts to build new structures upon old ruins may potentially ignite political, ethnic and religious discord especially in societies where different communities claim heritage ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the techno-typological study of seven bone projectile points closely associated with a burial assemblage excavated from El Alto 5 (~550 cal BP, Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina). The bone points provide a comparative model for interpreting the function of arrow points, primarily concerning how archaeologists can accurately differentiate the arrow tips used for warfare or hunting. Bone points have barbed shoulders to resist removal from the wound and serrated stems for secure hafting. They required shafts a few millimeters thicker than stone-tipped arrows for hafting, involving more kinetic energy to inflict severe injuries. Identifying a dark residue spattered over the blades opens the possibility that poison was applied to enhance the effectiveness of the shoot. The study is considered a starting point to build more accurate models to identify interpersonal violence during the Late Prehispanic Period, where most bone points occurred as domestic refuse of campsites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the materiality of lighting influenced the development of ancient rabbinic teachings that would later become the foundations of Jewish law. Drawing on ideas and frameworks from scholarship on material religion, I bring together archaeological finds, experimental archaeology, and references to objects in classical rabbinic literature to argue that the ways that lighting was used provided the earliest rabbis with tools and fodder for developing new expressions of piety that could be performed in one's household. How lamps, oils, and wicks were used in Roman-era Palestine (second-third century CE) played an influential role in the development of rabbinic Judaism. I show this through rabbinic prescriptions on lighting lamps on Friday evening to mark the onset of the Sabbath, as the different wicks and oils created opportunities for one to choose to perform the custom in rabbinically-prescribed ways. I next demonstrate how the rabbis drew on common lighting practices to reinterpret biblical laws on the now-destroyed Jerusalem Temple cult into expressions of piety that can be performed in households throughout Roman Palestine. In this way, the materiality of light contributed towards the ancient rabbis' role in transforming Judaism in the post-Temple age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Khirbat Iskandar is an Early Bronze Age (ca. 3800-1950 BCE) mound in the Madaba Governorate of Jordan. Until a decade ago, it was better known as a key site for the non-urban Early Bronze IV period (ca. 2500-1950 BCE), but is increasingly emerging as a signature site for the urban Early Bronze II-III period (ca. 3050-2500 BCE). The contour of the tall site is shaped by the presence of buried fortifications that were investigated in the north-western sector of the mound, where a long sequence of rebuilds was recognized, but were exposed to and impacted by modern construction activities along the southern and south-eastern areas prior to being recorded. There, due to erosion and weathering, the stone fortifications dating to the first half of the Early Bronze III (ca. 2850-2650 BCE) fell down. In this paper, we report on our strategies to assess threats, document damages, sustainably stabilize, and consolidate the collapsed ancient fortifications in the 2023 field season at Khirbat Iskandar. At the same time, we discuss the conceptual/methodological and practical challenges of identifying best practices in the conservation and preservation of antiquities that collapsed prior to being excavated. We conclude with some thoughts on how to build on these actions to efficiently present the archaeology and cultural heritage at protohistoric sites, like Khirbat Iskandar, and to make it accessible for the local and the international communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we seek to integrate theories of music origins and dance with hominin fossil anatomy and the paleoecological contexts of hominin evolution. Based on the association between rhythm in music, dance and locomotion, we propose that early bipedal hominins may have evolved neurobiological substrates different from other great apes due to the rhythmic aspects of bipedal walking and running. Combined with the emancipation of the hands resulting from erect posture, we propose that the neurobiological changes necessary for technological innovation, cultural practices and human musical abilities may have evolved, at least in incipient form, much earlier than previously thought. The consequent ability to synchronize movement and sound production may have also proved beneficial as early bipedal hominins ventured out of late Miocene and early Pliocene woodland and forested habitats and into more open habitats with increased predation risk. We also postulate that, along with bipedalism, paedomorphic morphogenesis of the skull at the base of the hominin clade was a necessary prerequisite for the evolution of vocal modulation and singing in later varieties of hominin. To date research into the evolution of music and dance has yet to be integrated with the fossil and paleoecological evidence of early hominin evolution. This paper seeks to fill this lacuna in the extant literature on human evolution. We also suggest that autocatalytic feedback loops evolving synergistically with hominin erect posture, skull and hand morphology, neurochemical processes and the self-domestication syndrome, have been operative from early hominins some 6 Ma to the present. We document this process by reference to primatological, ethnographic, neurochemical and archaeological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ebenezer Howard is one of the foundational figures of town planning. His Garden Cities of To-morrow envisions a Utopian synthesis of the urban and the rural to enhance the well-being of residents, in contrast to the industrial megalopolis of the late 19th century. While realized Garden Cities took many forms different from Howard's original layout, this is the one we find in the urban roots of the deep past. About 4350 BCE we see the formation of large, circular, decentralized settlements in what is today central Ukraine. Elsewhere, in the Brazilian Amazon between 1200 and 1600 CE, we see a transformation of the jungle into a vast park landscape filled with clusters of circular settlements, with horticultural land-use in between them. In addition to similarities in planning, these past settlements also involve the social aspect of countering inequality and fostering freedom and cooperation. This paper explores the possibility of Garden Cities in the past and the implications of decentralized 'rurban' landscapes from the deep history perspective of archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore how we might "see" and interrogate absence and presence in the archaeological record. Our aim is to bring into question the epistemic lens (archaeological), through which absence is made visible, and the epistemic lens (Indigenous knowledge), through which absence is made impossible. To do this, we turn to the contact rock art record from Yanyuwa Country in northern Australia, where, despite four centuries of contact with the "other" (Indonesian trepanger gatherers and Europeans), no motifs depicting introduced subject matter resulting from these encounters have been found. Rather than attributing this absence to taphonomic factors, we argue that it can be understood as an Indigenous presence when juxtaposed with the richly narrated lifeworld of the Yanyuwa. For Yanyuwa, creating rock art is a non-human-centered activity; it is through the actions of Ancestral Beings and spiritual entities that all rock art, potentially including introduced subject matter, is made and taken away according to cultural circumstances such as Yanyuwa health and well-being and changing engagements with country during postcontact times. We conclude by advocating for archaeologists to look outside of or suspend Western-oriented frameworks and reasoning and turn to self-determined Indigenous ontological and epistemological habits around how absence appears and operates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many archaeologists do not realize that their commonsense assumptions about what constitutes money naturalize orthodox (neoclassical) economic theory. Rather than the orthodox view of money as primarily a medium of exchange, this paper presents the heterodox claim of money as primarily a unit of account imposed by those with political power. This heterodox understanding casts money as the mechanism at the heart of ancient states' political economies. A brief history of heterodox chartalist macroeconomics is followed by eight starting points from which archaeologists can explore the operation of state money using the material remains of past societies. Ancient Mesoamerica provides a case study that developed independently of better-known monetary histories from ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek, Indus, and Chinese civilizations. Monetized state economies date back to at least AD 600 in Mesoamerica and possibly as early as 300 BC. Cacao beans, standard lengths of cotton cloth, and shell and greenstone beads functioned as the currencies of taxation that underwrote political economies across ancient Mexico and Central America. I conclude that similar organizing principles, by which elites in hierarchical pluralities have extracted and deployed surplus production, resulted in the independent invention of money as an accounting system among unrelated ancient societies the world over. My primary argument is that money—understood as a politically controlled system of accounting—is largely missing from our analysis of ancient complex societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a bibliometric analysis undertaken on Joseon gogo yeongu (Joseon Archaeological Research), North Korea's preeminent archaeology journal, providing information on the researchers, institutions, and research topics that have come to form the field of archaeological research in North Korea since the mid-1980s. Deviating from previous analyses of Joseon gogo yeongu, this paper focuses on the authors that contributed to Joseon gogo yeongu, identifying the archaeologists that have been most active in publishing articles. This particular method of establishing the key figures of North Korean archaeology reveals the presence of certain archaeologists whose importance has been overlooked within the South Korean discourse on North Korean archaeology. In addition, by tracing the research topics of these key figures over time, a broad understanding of the field of archaeological research in North Korea can be obtained. Information on institutional affiliations and co-authorships present within Joseon gogo yeongu also provide valuable insights into the workings of North Korean academia. Finally, by visualizing the results of the bibliometric analysis using word clouds and networks, the efficacy of Digital Humanities approaches to large data sets is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ancient ceramics with attractive features of art have always fascinated the world and created a demand with a higher level of attraction for the artifacts. This has led the treasure hunters actively involved in looting the sites all around Balochistan. In the recent years, this phenomenon has increased at an alarming rate which endangered is harming to the archeology of Balochistan. Many consignments have been confiscated in the decade that include the artefacts from Balochistan. One of such consignments was confiscated in 2005 which includes the pottery of Naal and Kulli, a Bronze Age phase, from Balochistan. This research paper focuses on these artifacts have certainly lost their context, but they are still important as they give numerous clues about the ancient inhabitants of Balochistan. In order to understand these hidden clues, the authors have analyzed the artifacts through observations and comparisons. While doing so, we have been able to trace their tentative position in chronological profile of Balochistan. Apart from the descriptive study of pottery, the paper also deals shortly with treasure hunting and illicit trafficking of archaeological materials of Balochistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]