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Aims. Compared to occlusal dental wear, labial/buccal abrasion is seldom documented in prehistoric groups. This type of wear occurs in some ethnographic-present and living populations and leaves telltale facets on non-occlusal vestibular surfaces associated with labrets. Methods and materials. For detailed macroscopic, microscopic (binocular and SEM) and thin-sectioned analysis we focused on the early Neolithic site of Mehrgarh in Pakistan where labial/buccal wear is found in mostly older adult males. We studied 215 teeth from ten individuals from the site. From the literature and some personal observations, we review evidence from the Czech early Upper Paleolithic and many later sites in the Old and New Worlds. Results. For Mehrgarh macroscopic observations revealed numerous teeth with labial and buccal facets affecting nearly every tooth class. Binocular and scanning electron microscopy and one thin-sectioned tooth provided detailed information about the wear characteristics on the facets. Comparisons. The most striking parallels to wear at Mehrgarh come from recent Inuit and Northwest Coast Native Americans where labret use was frequent in males and females. Vestibular wear occurs in a wide variety of specimens from the early Upper Paleolithic to modern patients. Unlike Mehrgarh and earlier prehistoric groups, in many cases Native American teeth are associated with the actual labrets in the graves. Conclusion. Occlusal wear or attrition caused by dental/oral manipulations where the teeth were used as tools is different, based on the resultant facets left on the teeth and micro-wear features. In prehistoric Europe, labret use extends back, at least, to the early Upper Paleolithic. As in recent humans, the use of labrets in prehistoric groups likely represents personal adornment tied to concepts of beauty and/or achieved/acquired status.

International audience; A large catacomb grave was recently excavated in Hajjiabad-Varamin, in the Halil Rud valley (Kerman province, Iran). Dated from the late 4 th to the early 3 rd millennium BC, the burial is abundantly furnished with 90 artefacts, which provide for the first time an insight into the local material (ceramic) assemblage used in the Halil Rud valley around 3000 BC. The ceramics (here fully published) help to define a new ceramic horizon (which we propose to call "Varamin Period"), between the 4 th millennium BC Aliabad wares horizon and the c. mid-3 rd millennium BC occupation periods of Konar Sandal South. The analysis of the spatial distribution of the grave furnishings also reveals aspects of the final stages of the funeral, as well as some immaterial implications hidden behind the material evidence.

The genetic formation of Central and South Asian populations has been unclear because of an absence of ancient DNA. To address this gap, we generated genome-wide data from 362 ancient individuals, including the first from eastern Iran, Turan (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan), Bronze Age Kazakhstan, and South Asia. Our data reveal a complex set of genetic sources that ultimately combined to form the ancestry of South Asians today. We document a southward spread of genetic ancestry from the Eurasian Steppe, correlating with the archaeologically known expansion of pastoralist sites from the Steppe to Turan in the Middle Bronze Age (2300-1500 BCE). These Steppe communities mixed genetically with peoples of the Bactria Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) whom they encountered in Turan (primarily descendants of earlier agriculturalists of Iran), but there is no evidence that the main BMAC population contributed genetically to later South Asians. Instead, Steppe communities integrated farther south throughout the 2nd millennium BCE, and we show that they mixed with a more southern population that we document at multiple sites as outlier individuals exhibiting a distinctive mixture of ancestry related to Iranian agriculturalists and South Asian hunter-gathers. We call this group Indus Periphery because they were found at sites in cultural contact with the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) and along its northern fringe, and also because they were genetically similar to post-IVC groups in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. By co-analyzing ancient DNA and genomic data from diverse present-day South Asians, we show that Indus Periphery-related people are the single most important source of ancestry in South Asia —} consistent with the idea that the Indus Periphery individuals are providing us with the first direct look at the ancestry of peoples of the IVC {— and we develop a model for the formation of present-day South Asians in terms of the temporally and geographically proximate sources of Indus Periphery-related, Steppe, and local South Asian hunter-gatherer-related ancestry. Our results show how ancestry from the Steppe genetically linked Europe and South Asia in the Bronze Age, and identifies the populations that almost certainly were responsible for spreading Indo-European languages across much of Eurasia.

The processes of loss, the throwing away and abandonment of small handmade items in present-day areas generally result in the formation of ephemeral and unsedinzented contexts. Only a very small part of what is lost or discarded will, in fact, contribute to the formation of well-consolidated and permanent archaeological layers in the place where they were aban¬doned. The "Junk-Paccottiglia" Project is centred on the archaeological study of a modern park in the centre of Rome and has involved the observation, the collection and the spatial contextualization of about 1500 archaeological items in the space of 14 months, from September 2004 to December 2005. Surveys conducted almost daily have permitted the collection of hundreds of personal ornaments (hair clips, beads, pendants, earrings, studs, buttons, artificial nails, gadgets for mobile phones, etc.). The items have then been quantitatively and qualitatively classified on the basis of shape, dimensions and material, with attention paid to the location where they were found and to the categories of age and sex of the population to which they probably belonged. The archaeology of contemporary beads is extremely complex in terms of defining their original owners. In the case of necklaces and bracelets that had fallen on the ground and that were lost or only partial¬ly recovered, the process of recovery of these elements and the dimensions of the areas of distribution were studied on the basis of some preliminary parameters, such as the average dimensions and spherical coefficient of the beads. Seasonal indicators such as buttons lost in the park, which vary in dimension and colour according to the current climate, have also enabled us to evaluate the chronological and seasonal variability of the processes of archaeological formation and distribution in space. This was carried out on the basis of climatic variation and consideration of exposure to sunlight and shade. These aspects are, in fact, a universal variable of human behaviour Finally, the archaeological expression of certain ritual behaviours, specifically connected to recurrent and well-recognizable chronological occurrences, has been supported.

It was on the valleys S of Bir-kot-ghwandai that Giuseppe Tucci made his seminal, fundamental observations on the ancient history and archaeology of Swat (1958). It is with a feeling of pride and satisfaction that our Mission returns on its own tracks, also because this happens – and we envisage this as a, particularly appropriate coincidence– on the celebration of our 50th year of continuous field activity. We present the first part of the preliminary report of the Archaeological Map of the Swat valley (AMSV) project, led by Luca M. Oliveri (LMO) and Massimo Vidale (MV) in the framework of the IsIAO Archeological Mission (IAM) activities directed by P. Callieri. This preliminary report has the goal to present all data so far collected during our 2000-2005 survey campaigns, concerning an area of about 100 km.

Nel volume sono presentate le metodologie innovative di microscavo, mutuate dalla chirurgia laparoscopica ed applicate per la prima volta all'interno dei Bronzi di Riace. L'intervento di microscavo dei nuclei interni di terra di fusione, oltre a risolvere i problemi conservativi, ha consentito di ricostruire per la prima volta il processo finalizzato alla realizzazione del prototipo di una scultura destinata ad essere fusa in bronzo mediante il procedimento della "cera persa con metodo diretto".

International audience