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The article focuses on the discovery of a significant cache of artifacts linked to the Red Ocher Culture in Thiensville, Wisconsin, in 1958. Topics include the initial find and its subsequent acquisition by Ernest Schug, the detailed excavation efforts by members of the Wisconsin Archeological Society, and the characteristics of the artifacts that helped classify them within the Red Ocher cultural context.

The article focuses on the therapeutic benefits of artifact hunting in natural settings, particularly walking creeks and ditches, as a way to alleviate stress and anxiety in today's fast-paced world. Topics include the geological characteristics of ideal artifact hunting areas, the impact of weather conditions on artifact visibility, and the author's personal experience of finding ancient artifacts during a creek walk after heavy rain.

This article presents the results of macroscopic analysis of obsidian artifacts from Structures 1, 4, 5, and 'La Escuela', in the El Tigre archaeological site, in Campeche, Mexico. Emphasis is made on the way artifacts were distributed in each structure and within each of the two production-use cycles found: bifaces and blades, highlighting similarities and differences in each structure, suggesting production and use modes, and showing how the use of obsidian from different sources and of specific chipping techniques responded to preferences linked to the function of each structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since a radiocarbon chronology of the Dalton culture in the Southeast was first proposed, several new sites have been dated. I propose a new chronology based on radiocarbon dates from sites in the Dalton Heartland and its eastern periphery using Bayesian statistical models in OxCal and an analysis of the associated diagnostic projectile points. The analyses indicate that the Dalton culture probably evolved from the Clovis or Gainey phenomena about 12,680 cal BP (ca. 10,700 BP) and lasted at least until ca. 10,400 cal BP (ca. 9,200 BP), if not several centuries later. I propose early and late Dalton phases that follow changes in how Dalton points were made and resharpened. It appears that the people living to the east of the Heartland followed a different trajectory of projectile point evolution. There, notched points appear about 11,500 cal BP, while in the Heartland, true notched points do not appear in large numbers until the Graham Cave point over 2,000 years later. The chronologies demonstrate that early, coeval, region-wide cultural changes may not have been the norm. They also raise interesting questions about how people in the Heartland and its eastern periphery interacted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper presents an integrated approach to the identification of complex re-processing operations of ancient ferrous artefacts from the multi-period site of Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Spatial and morphological studies and a range of archaeometric analyses – optical microscopy, X-Ray diffraction, Micro-Raman spectroscopy, neutron tomography – are used to identify various processing markers preserved in these heavily corroded objects and to distinguish two groups of differently processed fragments. The main analytical focus is the investigation of corrosion layers preserving traces of hot oxidation and forging of metallic iron, along with re-heating of previously formed rust layers. The collected evidence suggests that the numerous iron artefacts ritually deposited of at the site in the early Iron Age were subsequently retrieved and re-forged into semi-products as a part of larger scheme of recycling operations, in which Saruq al-Hadid was a first node. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Investigation of ancient corroded iron artefacts from the desert near modern Dubai. • We present morphological and microstructural analyses of 90 ferrous objects. • Artefacts preserve traces of hot oxidation, forging and re-heating of initial rust. • Large-scale re-processing of artefacts was undertaken long after their original ritual deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the connections of French ethnologists with their German counterparts in the early 1930s, in particular at the Frankfurt Institut für Kulturmorphologie. These connections are discernable in their policies of acquisition and exhibition, as well as conceptually. Adopting an 'histoire croisée approach', these effects, both in the realm of museum work and of evolution of the academic discipline, are studied using Paul Rivet and Georges Henri Rivière, director and deputy director of the Trocadéro, as examples. The exchange with neighbouring disciplines such as prehistory and art history opened up new interpretative spaces in both countries. Placed between documentary and artistic interests, ethnographic collections were thus reappraised, perceived in a new light and presented innovatively. They shaped a European epoch in which art was 'ethnologized' by recognizing non-European artefacts as works of art and by establishing a global art history, while ethnology was 'aestheticized' by constituting new exhibitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical analysis is an underused tool in historical archaeological investigations, despite the fact that much valuable information can be obtained from a chemical study of historical artifacts. Such analyses usually focus on the identification of materials, with the aim of elucidating their origins and historical uses. In a chemical sense, this proceeds through a number of stages, starting with simple observations and often ending with sophisticated measurements. It is work that can employ many different wet-chemical and instrumental methodologies, their use depending on both the analyst's insights and the availability of equipment in the laboratory. It is important to recognize which instruments cannot be done without in the analytical process and which may be too costly to warrant the investment. The diverse nature of the samples often leads to methodological challenges, underscoring the uncertainties inherent in the chemical analysis of historical artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The glasses are Soda-Lime-Glass of the Imperial Roman and Byzantine periods. • The glass production methodology is uniform all along the considered period. • Burial conditions produced a strong de-alkalization and network dissolution. • Colored glasses present typical chromophores. • Glass from the Catacombs of St. Lucy belong to the HIMT and Levantine type group. Abstract The study of glassmaking and glass trade in the Mediterranean region represents one of the most intriguing topics for Late Roman and Early Medieval archaeology. Until a decade ago, the identification of production centers and distribution patterns was mainly based on typological features and coloring of glass vessels. The growing popularity in the application of archaeometric techniques for characterization and study of archaeological artifacts has revolutionized the field of ancient glass studies. However, the critical lack of primary data and the limited use of analytical methods to determine the provenance of such materials has generated a gap in the knowledge, especially in important regions such as Sicily. The evidence emerged from two recent fieldworks brought the opportunity to test non-destructive techniques on an assemblage of ancient vessels to compare Late Roman and Early Medieval glass production technology and emphasizes evidence of continuity and discontinuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As new digital technologies now pervade the discipline of archaeology, the practice of creating digital 3D representations of artifacts has become widespread. The rapid growth and acceptance of these technologies into the discipline leaves us in a position where we must engage with how these tools fit our epistemologies. I propose that we look to a much older technology, photography, to inform the way that these digital artifacts are dealt with as we move into an increasingly digital field. In doing so, I will argue that the creation of a 3D digital artifact is a productive process, just as any form of media used to document and interpret the archaeological record. Through this production, the digital form is decoupled from the original physical artifact. The creation of a new representation of the artifact (in the form of a photograph or digital model) provides a new dimension to our interactions with these artifacts. The result of the digital movement in archaeology is a more interactive experience with artifacts, allowing researchers and the public alike digital access to archaeological collections. If the current trend continues, digital artifact modeling will become as indispensable to archaeology as traditional photography. It is therefore necessary for archaeologists to be aware of the subjectivities and biases that exist during this productive act as we move into a more integrated field of digital, representational technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the archaeometric analysis of several wall coatings applied to diverse architectural structures (wells, silos and domestic spaces) from the Chalcolithic site of Su Coddu/Canelles (Sardinia, Italy; c. 3400-2850 BC). The study of the samples was carried out by means of optical microscopy by thin-section analysis, micro X-Ray Diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy combined with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy. The study showed the application of successive layers of different thickness and granulometry to isolate the architectural structures. On the one hand, up to two layers made with a Tertiary fossiliferous marly clay as plaster are documented. On the other hand, the application of a very thin final layer very rich in calcite is observed in the majority of the samples studied. The analyses conducted evidence certain variability in the technological choices made by the craftpeople. However, it is also observed a clear adaptation of the properties of the studied materials to the insulating and waterproofing function that they played in such architectural structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 2013, an archaeological survey was carried out in the Hazimah plains, situated in the Jebel Qurma region of north-eastern Jordan. These plains surround the so-called Black Desert or harra, which has been known to contain an extremely rich archaeological and epigraphic record. In contrast to the harra, little is known about the archaeology of the surrounding hamad landscapes, and the survey presented in this paper aims to contribute to filling in this gap of knowledge. Initially, the survey aims to investigate the long-term history of settlement and land-use of this seemingly hostile environment, and, at the same time, seeks out an efficient methodology for locating the remains of the largely mobile communities that inhabited the Hazimah plains in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In August 2014, a group of Quinhagak elders met to examine artifacts recently excavated by Rick Knecht and a team of archaeologists at the precontact site Agaligmiut, known locally as Nunalleq (lit. "Old Village") in Southwest Alaska. The following pages describe not only the specific recollections the artifacts evoked but the years of collaboration between archaeologists, anthropologists, and community members that made this opportunity possible. Yup'ik oral tradition, alive in the minds of Quinhagak community members, is as rich a resource as Nunalleq and the treasures found below ground. Yup'ik history is complex and full of surprises, and it takes both physical and oral form. Bringing the two together has the potential to increase our understanding of Yup'ik history exponentially. With the interest and support of communities like Quinhagak the process will continue into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engraved and carved bone and stone artifacts capture our imaginations and are known worldwide from archaeological contexts, but they are seemingly rare and of ten times difficult to recognize. While preservation issues play a role in the limited recovery of early art objects, research on incised stones and bone from the Gault site in Texas demonstrates that an expectation to find such artifacts plays a key role in their identification and recovery. The presence of incised stones found by collectors at Gault alerted archaeologists to the potential for finding early art in systematic excavations. To date, 11 incised stones and one engraved bone of Paleoindian age (13,000-9,000 calibrated years before present) have been recovered and of these, the Clovis artifacts are among the earliest portable art objects from secure context in North America. The presence of incised stone and bone at Gault led to the development of an examination protocol for identifying and analyzing engraved and incised artifacts that can be applied to a wide variety of archaeological contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Documentation of the unpublished Greek-Dutch excavation in 1956 at Troullos - the eastern quarter of Archanes on the isle of Crete - was recently rediscovered and assembled. The slides, photographs, plans and notes, presented here for the first time, not only provide a vivid picture of the excavation that had fallen into oblivion, but also offer an interesting view of the methods and approaches of archaeology at the time, the ways of communication in the archaeological world and the circumstances in which campaigns were organised in the 1950s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I propose that a feminist approach will enrich archaeology in the Southeast and Midsouth. Feminist archaeology starts by taking the lives of women seriously in thinking about past human societies. This standpoint has implications for all topics of interest for Southeastern archaeologists: subsistence patterns, craft production, exchange, development of political systems, warfare, ritual, and so forth. Feminist archaeologists are also self-reflexive about and alert to conditions of work in the profession of archaeology. They pay attention to the importance of the intersection of gender, age, status, and other aspects of personal identity and to the need to accept ambiguity in interpretation. I review how a feminist archaeology might be applied to the archaeology of the South and what risks a feminist archaeology might raise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent turn in archaeology and other social sciences to the microscale analysis of agency, personhood, and identity has led to a neglect of analysis at the macroscale. With older frameworks such as neoevolution discredited or rejected, there has been relatively little emphasis on patterns of social change at larger geographical and temporal scales. Proceeding from the work of sociologist William Sewell Jr., I suggest that a focus on structures, events, and processes offers Southeastern archaeology a useful and theoretically flexible perspective on such patterns of incremental and exponential social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residue analyses on stone artefacts have contributed to resolving functional questions in stone tool research. Although identifying the function of tools through the analysis of their micro-residues is possible, the establishment of a sound numerical chronology for stone tools lacking a clear stratigraphic sequence, such as surface scatters, remains a challenge. While radiocarbon dating of blood residue on stone artefacts has been published previously ( Loy 1987 , 1990 , 1993 ; Loy et al., 1990 ; Nelson et al.1986 ), this paper reports on an experiment designed to assess the possibility of directly dating residues on stone artefacts by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) based radiocarbon measurements. Innovative with this approach is (1) the use of mid and late Holocene pre-dated plant material (wood and peat), processed with contemporarily manufactured stone flakes under controlled laboratory conditions and (2) the use of very small carbon masses (less than 22 µg) for radiocarbon dating. The 14 C results of the wood residues are in excellent agreement with the original sample, whereas the 14 C results of the peat residues yield a wider age variation as expected due to the inhomogeneity of the material, but nevertheless, provided dates within an expected age range. Preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of dating very small amounts of plant residue on lithics directly when contaminants are confined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we present a flexible, quantitative methodology for refitting handmade ceramics. Rather than analyzing the physical joins between sherds, we assess the likelihood that non-adjoining sherds of similar appearance are from the same vessel. The customary disregard of non-adjoining sherds in refitting experiments prompts us to address this issue. Using the Neolithic ceramic assemblage from Thirlings (Northumberland, U.K.) as a case study, we test several scoring systems for assessing the probability of two sherds pertaining to the same vessel. The utility of this approach is supported by the comparison of a set of percentage scores statistically verified using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. We conclude with a discussion of the contribution of the new method to post-excavation ceramic analyses, and its applicability to other assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the approach adopted by Wisconsin archaeologist James L. Theler to faunal analysis and its application to Oneota research in the La Crosse locality of western Wisconsin. Topics discussed include the wide knowledge of Theler of animal remains and subsistence studies. Several factors that must be considered by archaeologists doing faunal analysis are also cited which include thinking about subsistence in the most practical sense.

The relatively recent availability of terrestrial lidar for mapping archaeological subjects has allowed for great advances in representation and reconstruction but the analytic potential of this technology remains under-developed in archaeology. This paper provides an overview of the analytical directions we are taking with point cloud data generated through ground-based laser scanning at the imperial Inca site of Caranqui in northern Ecuador. Our approach to data analysis employs insights and ideas from the domains of GIScience, remote sensing, cartography, computer vision and hydrology. While creating a comprehensive visual record of the site was an important project goal, we also sought to develop improved methods of feature extraction and surface calibration to better understand water manipulation and flows at the site. Here we highlight some of the preliminary results of our analyses as well as the challenges and benefits of employing terrestrial lidar to investigate a mid-sized archaeological site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hildebrandt and King (2012) propose a new method for distinguishing between archaeologically obtained atlatl darts and arrow points, suggesting their dart-arrow index identifies specimens more accurately than previously developed multivariate approaches. They assert that use of their index supports conclusions that the bow was a superior technology and replaced the atlatl quickly. I use their index, as well as Shott's (1997) equations, to analyze southern Saskatchewan archaeological point specimens. My results suggest that the proposed dart-arrow index performs poorly for Canadian Plains specimens and that atlatl and bow technology coexisted for an extended period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technical artifacts, understood as products or processes built intentionally to represent and modify a particular reality, have been widely analyzed from orthodox perspectives with the objective of classifying and delimiting consensual characteristics that lead to their definition. If we take into account the more accepted characteristics (the functional, material, communicative and aesthetic features) of the artifacts, and also the more heterodox and controversial qualities, as well as their construction from social interactions and uses, we can analyze, from the gender and queer perspectives, how the body also becomes an artifact. These perspectives are social expressions which aimed at including the subjective singularity in our society conception. The bodies, denaturalized in that way as a puzzle of signifiers, are built through interaction processes which imprint in them «other» intentionalities. These intentionalities legitimize the bodies in a socio-cultural way and make them more adaptable to the material reality of our desires. Hegemonically, bodies are scientifically and technologically built to determine, among other things, their production and reproduction. So they are converted into biopolitics and bioethics' artifacts of the sex-gender system. This paper aims at showing what role science and technology play when bodies become artifacts, how these bodies have been historically naturalized and denaturalized from within the sex-gender system, thus affecting identities and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Chewaucan Cave cache, discovered in 1967 by relic collectors digging in eastern Oregon, consists of a large grass bag that contained a number of other textiles and leather, including two Catlow twined baskets, two large folded linear nets, snares, a leather bag, a badger head pouch, other hide and cordage, as well as a decorated basalt maul. One of the nets returned an Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon date of 340±40 B.P. The cache has been noted in previous publications, but has never been fully documented. Because of the well-preserved perishables, and the direct association that the artifacts have with each other as a cache or tool kit, the assemblage is an excellent example of late Archaic hunting and textile technology, with basketry consistent with materials produced historically by the Klamath people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents results from the first 3 rounds of an international intercomparison of measurements of Δ14CO2 in liter-scale samples of whole air by groups using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The ultimate goal of the intercomparison is to allow the merging of Δ14CO2 data from different groups, with the confidence that differences in the data are geophysical gradients and not artifacts of calibration. Eight groups have participated in at least 1 round of the intercomparison, which has so far included 3 rounds of air distribution between 2007 and 2010. The comparison is intended to be ongoing, so that: a) the community obtains a regular assessment of differences between laboratories; and b) individual laboratories can begin to assess the long-term repeatability of their measurements of the same source air. Air used in the intercomparison was compressed into 2 high-pressure cylinders in 2005 and 2006 at Niwot Ridge, Colorado (USA), with one of the tanks "spiked" with fossil CO2, so that the 2 tanks span the range of Δ14CO2 typically encountered when measuring air from both remote background locations and polluted urban ones. Three groups show interlaboratory comparability within 1‹ for ambient level Δ14CO2. For high CO2/low Δ14CO2 air, 4 laboratories showed comparability within 2‹. This approaches the goals set out by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) CO2 Measurements Experts Group in 2005. One important observation is that single-sample precisions typically reported by the AMS community cannot always explain the observed differences within and between laboratories. This emphasizes the need to use long-term repeatability as a metric for measurement precision, especially in the context of long-term atmospheric monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A suite of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates for the Ufa-II archaeological site in Bashkortostan, Russia, is obtained for the first time. Dating was done on charcoal samples from a sequence of cultural deposits collected during the 2011 digging season. An age-depth chronology is established using the Bayesian deposition General Outlier P_Sequence model. The oldest age for the site at the horizon immediately over the sterile ground was cal AD 137-237 (68% probability), corresponding to the beginning of site occupation. The youngest 14C date found was late 6th to early 7th century cal AD for the extensive planked boardwalks unearthed at the site. The 14C dates are in good agreement with archaeological determinations based on discovered artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts from the Bioarchaeology of Ancient Egypt conference on topics including cereal cultivation in Egypt, the potential of dendrochronology in Egypt and genetic efficacy of penicillium sp. and bacillus cereus in Ancient Organic Artifacts from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

This paper seeks to make a contribution to current debates concerning the dislocation in landscape research between experiential approaches and quantitative techniques of landscape analysis. It focuses upon a group of archaeological sites that are caught in the centre of this divide: plough-levelled sites recorded as cropmarks on aerial photographs. The application of experiential landscape analysis to plough-levelled sites is explored, along with the value of incorporating information derived from the study of the aerial photograph. It is contended that richer, more rounded, interpretations of landscape are possible when combining aspects of quantitative and qualitative landscape research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Milling stones of one kind or another comprise one of the most common categories of artifacts encountered in local archaeological sites, yet their very ubiquity has, to some extent, led all too frequently to their being simply described, typed, and enumerated, and their uses assumed to be self-evident. As the following short paper reminds us, however, even simple objects can have multiple functions and subtle complexities, and direct ethnographic observations can often provide a useful perspective on archaeological data. The article was originally published in 1983 in Papers of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico 8:253-67 (Collected Papers in Honor of Charlie R. Steen, Jr., Nancy L. Fox, editor), and is reprinted here with the permission of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico. Several photographs, that originally accompanied the article have been omitted here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on an object that contains an Old English runic inscription which was found during excavations in the parish of Baconsthorpe, Norfolk in 2009. It mentions excavation specialist John Hines who has analysed the artifact and has stated that the artifact belonged to second half of the eighth century. It states that Hines has interpreted the symbols appeared in the artifact.

Interpretation of X-ray fluorescence images of archeological artifacts is complicated by the presence of surface relief and roughness. Using two symmetrically arranged fluorescence detectors in a back-reflection geometry, the proper X-ray fluorescence yield can be distinguished from intensity variations caused by surface topography. This technique has been applied to the study of Roman inscriptions on marble. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the benefits of adopting non-destructive energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) as a first-order technique to determine chert whole-rock geochemistry for archaeological sourcing. Chemical signatures for the Touladi and La Martre prehistoric quarries from the lower St. Lawrence and Gaspé Peninsula region of Quebec, Canada, are determined and serve as references to test the provenance of regional chert artifacts. Chert experimental flakes, created from quarry geological hand samples, are analyzed and used to validate the method. Archaeological flakes and tools recovered from three archaeological sites are analyzed and tested against quarry samples. Geochemical diagrams and Principal Component Analysis are used to establish artifact-quarry relationships. The effects of surface weathering on the geochemical analysis of archaeological chert artifacts are presented. Sample restoration and research avenues are discussed and proposed to further enhance the robustness of future chert geochemical data sets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The city of Panama was founded on 15 August 1519 and was the first Spanish port on the American Pacific coast. In 1671 the city was destroyed by the pirate Henry Morgan. The archaeological site of Panama Viejo was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2003. The archaeological department of Patronato Panama Viejo, the institution responsible for site management, has designed a long-term plan that involves survey, excavation, analysis, conservation, curation of collections, education, and general and specialized promotion. The site-management structure, including fundraising, is innovative and original for the region. This paper presents a synthesis of more than a decade of archaeological research at the site, the legal framework in which it takes place, and its significance in the regional context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mann site (12P02), most noted for its large Hope-wellian mound complex, is a little studied but significant archaeological site in southwestern Indiana. Non-mound habitation areas at both the Mann and nearby Mann phase Grabert site were the sole source of archaeobotanical information for these sites prior to the current macrobotanical analysis of two newly available and fairly large (55-60 g of charred material each) samples collected from Mann site mound pit features. Analysis of the macrobotanical material from these pits, in the context of what is already known from both the Mann and Grabert sites, provides additional evidence that plant resources were being used in the Mann phase subsistence system consistent with interregional Hopewellian influences. Data indicate that the inhabitants were using some form of seed storage and may have been participating in non-burial-related ceremonial feasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a revision of Dean E. Arnold's (1985, 1993) Exploitable Threshold Model, which attempts to explain the selection of raw materials for pottery production. Arnold's model posits that potters' preferences for materials are largely determined by the linear distance to individual resources. We argue, however, that potters' choices are, at least in part, determined by spatial relationships among the necessary resources rather than the distances to them. This study of 14th century pottery production on Perry Mesa, Arizona demonstrates that potters selected materials based on the co-occurrence of readily available sources of temper, clay, and fuel. Lack of water and fuel sources on the mesa top compelled local residents to eschew the use of readily available basaltic sands to temper their plainware pottery. Instead, Perry Mesa potters selected granitic sands from the river valley nearly 300 vertical meters below their settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The graphical and linguistic interpretation of the first six Etruscan numerals has long been confronted with the ambiguous assignment of the words huth and sa to either 4 or 6. Here, we show how the systematic combinatorial analysis of the numerals appearing on ancient southern Etrurian dice dated from the eighth to the third centuries bc, together with the careful comparison of the results with the only two existing dice carrying the alphabetical translations of the numerals conserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, finally allows unambiguous mathematical resolution of the linguistic riddle, allowing the firm attribution of the numeral 6 to the graphical value huth and 4 to sa. Combinatorial analysis of the numerals distribution on the six faces of the die shows that only two of the 15 possible numerical combinations were actually in use in southern Etruria, and that during the fifth century bc there was a marked shift from the typical (1-2, 3-4, 5-6) combination used in the early seventh- to fifth-century bc dice to the (1-6, 2-5, 3-4) combination used at later times and still largely adopted today. The largest body of archaeometric data on dice specimens from Etruria is presented, based on macroscopic examination, X-ray diffraction, DRIFT spectroscopy and density measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite extensive work by the University of Chicago in 1934-44, Kincaid has remained one of the least understood of the large mid-South Mississippian mound complexes. Between 2003 and 2009, large-scale magnetic gradient survey was done on 33.6 ha of the site, roughly half of the total site area and 65 percent of the larger and more accessible Massac County portion. The survey was highly successful, revealing large numbers of cultural features, including palisades, structures, pit features, and midden areas. This paper presents the preliminary results of the geophysical survey, complemented by small-scale ground-truthing excavations. Together these have significantly expanded and refined our understanding of this large prehistoric town. Kincaid is clearly much larger than once thought, both in terms of total site area and area of habitation. The site also exhibits much greater internal complexity, as evidenced by internal palisades and numerous small mounds and earthen platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A synthesis of faunal analyses from South Carolina's prehistoric coastal sites is presented as a means of investigating geographic differences and diachronic changes attributable to climate. Thirty-one zooarchaeological samples from 26 sites are presented, ranging from the Late Archaic through the Late Mississippian periods. Frequencies of taxa such as eastern oysters, quahog clams, sea catfishes, and drums, among others, vary spatially and temporally, roughly paralleling broad climatic trends. These results, while preliminary, provide insight into faunal use patterns and are used to indicate avenues for future zooarchaeological research in South Carolina and surrounding areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A typology and division for the Hafit and Umm an-Nar tomb constructions, complete, comprehensible and practical to use, is still a desideratum for archaeological research. For this task, some basic investigation is still necessary, and the existing descriptions for different types must also be reviewed. This contribution presents a part of the basic work required. The investigation was carried out by the Bat Research & Restoration Project in 2007. In order to discuss the methods of approach, a specific construction type is chosen which can be clearly defined among all the Hafit tomb varieties. The example is tomb 603, situated in a group of ten Hafit grave constructions, where K. Frifelt had already begun investigations in 1972. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use faunal evidence from Khirbat al-Mudayna al-'Aliya, an agropastoral settlement located in west-central Jordan, to examine early Iron Age subsistence regimes. Analysis of faunal evidence reveals a low-intensity, nonspecialized animal economy dependent on both domesticated and wild species, including freshwater crabs. The subsistence economy of the settlement, we argue, was structured so as to take maximum advantage of its location overlooking the Wadi al-Nukhayla, a perennial water source supporting a relatively verdant floral and faunal array. This diverse and flexible organization made subsistence in this resource-scarce environment more sustainable. When this profile is compared with other early Iron Age southern Levantine communities, the diversity of ways that animal economies were organized during this period is apparent, signaling the need to investigate the local strategies that communities used to adapt to their immediate environmental circumstances, not only ecologically but also socially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]