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This paper, jointly written by participants of a workshop held in 2021, argues for an increased recognition and application of neutron activation analysis (NAA) in the archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean. Discussing the methodological strengths and challenges, it highlights the great potential NAA has for collecting proxy data from ceramics in order to develop progressive concepts of archaeological research within and beyond the Mediterranean Bronze and Iron Age, pointing out opportunities to revisit long-held assumptions of scholarship and to refine visual/macroscopic provenance determinations of pottery. To take full advantage of NAA’s strengths toward a better understanding of the socioeconomic background of ceramics production, distribution, and consumption, the paper emphasises the need for both interdisciplinary collaboration and basic data publication requirements.

The neurovascular conference is a discussion platform for the fields of neurology, neurosurgery, vascular surgery and neuroradiology.Interdisciplinary exchange allows creation of individual treatment concepts for elective patients with neurovascular diseases regarding further measures for prevention, treatment and aftercare.Establishment of individual treatment concepts for patients with neurovascular diseases regarding treatment recommendations based on current guidelines, scientific evidence and treatment standards based on them.Elective patients with neurovascular diseases.KLINISCHES/METHODISCHES PROBLEM: Die Neurovaskuläre Konferenz ist eine Diskussionsplattform für die Fachgebiete Neurologie, Neurochirurgie, Gefäßchirurgie und Neuroradiologie. LEISTUNGSFäHIGKEIT: Der interdisziplinäre Austausch ermöglicht die Erstellung eines individuellen Behandlungskonzepts hinsichtlich des weiteren Vorgehens zu Vorsorge, Therapie und Nachsorge von neurovaskulären Erkrankungen.Etablierung eines individuellen Behandlungskonzepts für elektive Patienten mit neurovaskulären Erkrankungen basierend auf den Grundlagen aktueller Leitlinien, der wissenschaftlichen Evidenz und der darauf basierenden Behandlungsstandards. EMPFEHLUNG FüR DIE PRAXIS: Elektive Patienten mit neurovaskulären Erkrankungen.

In the archaeology of death and burial, the premise that the dead were buried ritually and not simply disposed of seems to be accepted without argument. Where graves were reopened and reused for subsequent burials, however, the post-funeral manipulation of ‘older’ depositions is often regarded as having been primarily pragmatic and circumstantial. Countering this interpretative imbalance, we argue that the reuse of tombs was a highly complex procedure that forced communities into negotiating and formalizing, or even ritualizing, the way in which bodies and objects were acted on and engaged with. Taking the necropolis Giarnera Piccola/Ascoli Satriano in pre-Roman northern Apulia as a case study, and employing a microarchaeological-archaeothanatological perspective, we discuss the diverse and sometimes conflicting practices used to deal with pre-existing graves, objects and human remains, identifying tensions between maintaining or reconstructing the integrity of the body and intentionally manipulating and fragmenting it. We argue that repeatedly reused tombs constituted a socially and symbolically charged arena for a prolonged, active relationship with the deceased and for mobilizing, mediating and maintaining inter-generational memories.

The paper analyzes notions of childhood in pre-Roman south-east Italy based on more than 170 funerary features with subadult depositions at three sites, viz. Ascoli Satriano and Ordona in northern Apulia and Ripacandida in the Basilicata. In order to understand early age both in a regional view and in its local manifestations, we discuss this dataset in terms of spatial placement, equipment with grave-goods as well as funerary and post-burial practices of subadult burials. The paper employs a twofold theoretical approach: A life-course perspective allows to sketch how conceptions of social age shift over early life and dynamically intersect with other social categories such as gender and status. A relational approach positions childhood in wider social structures and is sensitive to how funerary assemblages and practices constitute the post-mortem identity of children, reconfigure the social identities of the bereaved and deploy strategies of coping with loss. In integrating these two strands, we investigate whether and how mortuary performances and assemblages represent age-based identities, relate to infant needs and development and reflect how subadult individuals were embedded in, but also contributed to, their communities in life.

This paper presents the results of three NAA sample series from Ascoli Satriano (Apulia), Ripacandida (Basilicata) and Monte Iato (western Sicily). Based on the identification of the chemical patterns of each site, the study aimed to outline the range of local pottery production, as seen against the backdrop of cultural contacts in the course of the so-called Greek colonization. For this purpose, colonial and imported Greek vessels, supplemented by kitchen and coarse wares, were sampled alongside traditional indigenous pottery. The chronological framework covered the 8th/7th to the 4th c. BCE. The results revealed that a highly diverse pottery production existed from early on in areas of intensive cultural contacts and wide-ranging networks, as at Monte Iato. More remote areas, on the other hand, tended to remain integrated into networks of lesser scope; in these areas, local production was primarily limited to traditional wares and external stimuli were taken up rather late, if at all. In this context, the results are understood as reflecting potters’ reactions to local demand defined by social differentiation.

Textiles are seldom included within socioeconomic interpretative frameworks of the ancient northern Mediterranean region, although several recent studies have begun to address this lacuna. The Archaic/ Classical site of Ripacandida (Basilicata), located in the southern Apennines, has yielded both textiles and textile tools, providing an unprecedented opportunity to examine textile production and use at an indigenous south Italian site. This study presents the results of the complementary analyses of mineralised textile remains and textile tools (spindle whorls and loom weights) found in the cemetery of Ripacandida. The unusual combination of the Greek textile weave (weft-faced tabby) and a characteristic Italic tablet-woven border in two fragments attests to a mixed textile culture. The (to date) unique situation at Ripacandida enables us to reflect on the role of textiles in cultural contact contexts: the way in which textile cultures and their elements met and were mixed or kept separate in south Italy and beyond; the extent to which textile production was socially and economically embedded in a small indigenous community of south Italy; and the role of textiles and textile production as an expression of indigenous-Greek interaction. Open access: Attribution—Non Commercial—NoDerivs / CC BY-NC-ND

This paper seeks to discuss and identify indications for mobile pastoralism in Archaic southern Italy. Because of the perishable and seasonal nature of the material remains and therefore the difficulty of finding direct archaeological evidence for this kind of economy, indirect factors like social organization and social structure derived from cross-cultural ethnological comparisons are taken into account. Instead of solely focusing on the detection of material traces in the shape of objects, the paper tries to identify broadly shared social patterns typical for mobile pastoralism that is not only a special economy but also a way of life, demanding certain structures up into the most basic levels of societal organization. Based on a consideration of different historical and ethnologically observed pastoralist communities, it aims to identify a set of typical features shared by different kinds of mobile pastoralism. These observations will then be compared to the findings of a regional case study from Archaic southern Italy, looking for their possible traces in the archaeological record. Finally, further research prospects are discussed and possibilities for future investigations are highlighted, calling for an augmented attention to the topic in local projects as well as interdisciplinary research.