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Constraining secular variation of the Earth's magnetic field strength in the past is fundamental to understanding shortterm processes of the geodynamo. Such records also constitute a powerful and independent dating tool for archaeological sites and geological formations. In this study, we present 11 robust archaeointensity results from Pre-Pottery to Pottery Neolithic Jordan that are based on both clay and flint (chert) artifacts. Two of these results constitute the oldest archaeointensity data for the entire Levant, ancient Egypt, Turkey, and Mesopotamia, extending the archaeomagnetic reference curve for the Holocene. Virtual Axial Dipole Moments (VADMs) show that the Earth's magnetic field in the Southern Levant was weak (about two-thirds the present field) at around 7600 BCE, recovering its strength to greater than the present field around 7000 BCE, and gradually weakening again around 5200 BCE. In addition, successful results obtained from burnt flint demonstrate the potential of this very common, and yet rarely used, material in archaeomagnetic research, in particular for prehistoric periods from the first use of fire to the invention of pottery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014, the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project renewed excavations at Khirbat al-Jariya (KAJ), an Iron Age copper smelting site in Faynan, Jordan. Located roughly 3 km from the prominent smelting center Khirbat en-Nahas (KEN), KAJ was an integral component of Early Iron Age (ca. 1200–800 b.c.) copper production in Faynan, one of the largest copper ore deposits in the southern Levant. To date, the site had only been investigated by surveys and limited excavation; the 2014 excavations opened two areas (the largest extant building and a slag mound sounding) to explore the social dynamics and temporal intricacies of copper production. The excavation results, detailed site remapping, paleobotanical analysis, and new radiocarbon dates suggest KAJ more rapidly developed into a large-scale copper production center than previously believed, likely as a strategic expansion to the industry at KEN. This reinterpretation sheds new light on the development of the Iron Age industrial landscape in Faynan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological research in the Levant constantly produces major new sources of cultural heritage data and material remains that require innovative methods for study, interpretation, and public presentation. To make the growing body of such data accessible to researchers and the public, the Digital Archaeological Atlas of the Holy Land (DAAHL) cyberinfrastructure and web interface was developed at the GAIA Lab at Arizona State University and deployed at the Qualcomm Institute at UCSD; it can be reached at http://daahl.ucsd.edu. The DAAHL project provides a web-based model for researchers from a wide range of fields dealing with cultural heritage to collaborate, discover, and monitor resources. And in an era of rapidly expanding population, urban development, and regional conflict, a system like the DAAHL provides mechanisms to monitor archaeological site conditions over time and lessen the impact on cultural heritage resources through careful planning, and can significantly enhance site preservation and development potential in the Mediterranean basin. Furthermore, it provides a model for archaeological site data management that can be deployed in many regions across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the underlying motives and implementation of the ArchaeSTOR web application as a part of the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project. The increasing complexity and size of the data recorded required an integrated database solution in order to manage both digital and physical assets. In addition, tools were developed as a part of ArchaeoSTOR that enable easier data exploration allowing new ways of researching archaeological material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific visualization allows researchers to examine their data in high definition 2D and 3D environments. Field research conducted in the Middle East by the UC San Diego Levantine and Cyber- Archaeology Lab, in collaboration with the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3) takes full advantage of a suite of state-of-the-art visualization platforms at the UC San Diego Qualcomm Institute. Research interests include terascale scientific visualization and virtual reality, image-based modeling and rendering, as well as distributed and remote visualization. The Qualcomm Institute's team has been active in virtual reality research for over a decade and the stringent VR requirements have served as important performance criteria for our large-scale distributed data analysis and visualization projects. Through collaborative work both on campus and abroad, our group has contributed to making a significant transformative impact to both diagnostics and the preservation of cultural heritage. Here we briefly summarize a range of 3D applications using data from our research in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology is rapidly changing, and these changes are affecting disciplines across the board, including archaeology. Changes in technology can be challenging, but can also bring benefits to the discipline overall. This article looks at OpenDig in the context of technological developments, presenting it as a framework for handling the metadata collected in the field, which serves as the primary contextual information for the analysis and study of the archaeological samples and contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osmium isotope and highly siderophile element (HSE: Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Pt, Pd, Re, Au) abundance analysis provides a new methodology for examining the origins of ancient iron production in the Eastern Mediterranean, a current scholarly lacuna. Here we present results from a two-stage campaign of laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) followed by thermal ionization mass spectrometry and solution ICP-MS to measure mixed iron-copper chunks and iron objects from the Faynan region of Jordan. Faynan is a copper-ore resource zone with a rich history of copper smelting. The combination of sophisticated copper metallurgy and iron artifacts in the archaeological record of Iron Age Faynan (10th-9th centuries BCE) offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate the hypothesis that iron production originally developed as an adventitious byproduct of advanced copper smelting technologies. Based on the results, we find no connection from HSE abundances and inter-element ratios, or osmium isotopes, between the iron objects (Pt/Os = 2–7; 187Os/188Os = 1.15 to 2.50) and mixed metal chunks from the furnaces (Pt/Os = 7.7–35; 187Os/188Os = 2.15 to 8.96) excavated in Faynan, indicating that the objects were not locally produced. This conclusion provides additional evidence that iron production in the Levant was probably not directly developed from copper smelting. In turn, osmium isotopes and siderophile element abundances in artifacts and products from metal production can also offer a new line of evidence for examining exchange networks in the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere. • Application of combined LA-ICP-MS and TIMS methodology in archaeology. • Osmium isotopes and HSE abundances are used to provenance iron objects. • Iron objects were not locally produced from iron-copper chunks in Faynan, Jordan. • Evidence that iron production did not originate from copper smelting technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an introduction in which the guest editor discusses the special issue's theme of the impact of information technology (IT) on Middle East archaeology, focusing on Cyber-archaeology, which combines archaeology with computer science, engineering, and natural sciences.

Abstract: In paleomagnetism, periods of high field intensity have been largely ignored in favor of the more spectacular directional changes associated with low field intensity periods of excursions and reversals. Hence, questions such as how strong the field can get and how fast changes occur are still open. In this paper we report on data obtained from an archaeometallurgical excavation in the Middle East, designed specifically for archaeomagnetic sampling. We measured 342 specimens from 72 samples collected from a 6.1m mound of well stratified copper production debris at the early Iron Age (12th–9th centuries BCE) site of Khirbat en-Nahas in Southern Jordan. Seventeen samples spanning 200yr yielded excellent archaeointensity results that demonstrate rapid changes in field intensity in a period of overall high field values. The results display a remarkable spike in field strength, with sample mean values of over 120μT (compared to the current field strength of 44μT). A suite of 13 radiocarbon dates intimately associated with our samples, tight control of sample location and relative stratigraphy provide tight constraints on the rate and magnitude of changes in archaeomagnetic field intensities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]