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Archaeological Interpretation (archaeological + interpretation)
Selected AbstractsThe Source Provenance of Bronze Age and Roman pottery from CyprusARCHAEOMETRY, Issue 1 2002B. Gomez Archaeological interpretations of ancient economies have been strengthened by chemical analyses of ceramics, which provide the clearest evidence for economic activity, and comprise both the objects of exchange and its means. Pottery is often manufactured from local materials, but its compositional diversity typically prevents significant patterns of resource utilization from being identified. Centrally located and positioned on traditional shipping routes, Cyprus maintained ties with and supplied a variety of distinctive ceramic products to the major commercial centres in the eastern Mediterranean throughout Antiquity. We analysed two Cypriot .ne wares and a variety of utilitarian pottery, as well as samples of extant Cypriot clays to determine source provenance. These chemical analyses provide an objective indication of the origins of ancient (Bronze Age and Roman) ceramics manufactured on Cyprus. The distribution of the probable clay sources and the links between pottery style and the material environment also afford a perspective on the spatial organization of large-scale pottery production on the island. Compositional analysis provides the means to assemble geographies of pottery production and to unravel the interregional system of exchange that operated in Antiquity, but the ability to accomplish these tasks is predicated on systematic analyses of ceramic products and raw materials that are found far beyond the bounds of individual archaeological sites. [source] The role of integrated geophysical survey methods in the assessment of archaeological landscapes: the case of PortusARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 3 2009Simon Keay Abstract The regular application of geophysical, geochemical and topographical survey techniques to evaluate archaeological sites is well established as a method for locating, defining and mapping buried archaeological materials. However, it is not always feasible to apply a range of different methods over a particular site or landscape due to constraints in time or funding. This paper addresses the integrated application of a variety of survey techniques over different sites and landscapes in Italy and elsewhere, focusing on the recent results from the ongoing survey and excavations at Portus, the port of Imperial Rome. An integration of methods, including magnetometry, resistance survey, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) has been used at the site to fulfil a number of different research objectives. Results of the magnetometer survey have successfully recorded the nature and extent of archaeological material over an area of 220,ha, allowing a plan of the port and related structures to be produced and variations in archaeological potential across the entire landscape to be assessed. The integration of several techniques in one area of the site between the Porto di Claudio and the Porto di Traiano has mapped the structural remains of this area of the port prior to and during investigation of the zone through excavation. Current work on the geophysical survey data, using different software programs for the processing of survey data and merging different datasets using geographical information system packages, has allowed the results of the work to be visualized and presented to archaeologists in a comprehensive and unambiguous fashion, facilitating the future management and preservation of the site. In addition ongoing research is using different statistical and visual methods of integration to refine the archaeological interpretation of the study area. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Integrated technologies for archaeological investigation; the Celone Valley projectARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 3 2007Marcello Ciminale Abstract A non-intrusive investigation integrating complementary technologies was carried out at four vast archaeological settlements located in the northern part of Apulia (Southern Italy). An aerial photographic survey combined with a high-resolution magnetic investigation was used to detect many buried archaeological features. After processing, both crop marks and magnetic anomalies appeared very sharp and well-defined, outlining the shape and plan of the buried structures with notable accuracy. Furthermore, differential global positioning system measurements were carried out in order to geocode the magnetic grids, to orthorectify the oblique coloured photographs and to make these data sets suitable for input into a GIS; a very good spatial correlation and a more rigorous and comprehensive interpretation of the various data elements were attained. Finally, as a result of this combined and accurate multilayer analysis, an archaeological interpretation was proposed, enabling useful information to be obtained on the transformations that have occurred over time at these study sites. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] GIS in archaeology,the interface between prospection and excavationARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 3 2004Wolfgang NeubauerArticle first published online: 12 MAY 200 Abstract Archaeological prospection and excavation have the same research objective, namely, the study of the material culture of humans. They investigate the archaeological record but are based on different physical properties and work with different resolution and instrumentation. In addition to the study of literature concerning antique discoveries and the collection and evaluation of surface finds, it is aerial archaeology and geophysical prospection that are the most suitable methods of achieving the intended goal. Aerial photographs provide the archaeologist with a large-scale overview, and digital photogrammetric evaluation provides very detailed topographic maps and orthophotographs of the archaeological structures visible on the surface. These structures appear in various forms, through contrasts in the physical properties between the structures themselves and the material that surrounds them. In geophysical prospection, the contrasts between the physical properties of the archaeological structures and the surrounding material usually can be investigated only in the near-surface or with direct ground contact. These contrasts are not directly visible, however, and must instead be measured and converted into a comprehensible visualization. The prospection methods used in the interpretation process are not significantly different from one to another. Interpretation encompasses the localization and classification of archaeological structures, the analysis of their spatial relationships, as well as the creation of models showing the main stratification at a site. Unlike excavations, through archaeological interpretation of prospection data, various accurate archaeological models of the entire site and the surrounding landscape can be made available rapidly. These models can be used for targeted excavations, so as to further condense the information and to refine the models. If all the data are made available in a geographical information system (GIS), it can be combined and further analysed by the excavator as well as by the prospector. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Assessing Ceramic Compositional Data: A Comparison of Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis On Late Iron Age Spanish Celtiberian CeramicsARCHAEOMETRY, Issue 3 2001M. García-Heras A solid-phase, non-chemical processing protocol was recently developed as a means of chemically characterizing archaeological ceramics by total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF). Following this methodology, TXRF can provide semi-quantitative determinations for 18 elements with comparable levels of precision and accuracy for the majority of them in comparison with a clay reference material analysed by instrumental neutron activation (INAA). In order critically to assess the analytical capabilities of TXRF, a large sample set of Late Iron Age Spanish Celtiberian ceramics and modern clays was analysed both by TXRF and INAA. Semi-quantitative chemical data provided by TXRF and quantitative data provided by INAA were subjected to commonly used multivariate statistical methods as a way of evaluating the ability of the new technique to discriminate among different compositional groups. The comparison of the two data sets shows no significant discrepancies, thereby allowing support for the same archaeological interpretation. These results suggest that TXRF has potential applicability for compositional characterization of archaeological ceramics, providing data that are useful for provenance studies. [source] Inverted clast stratigraphy in an eolian archaeological environmentGEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 7 2002Brenda J. Buck Understanding the geomorphic history of eolian basins is important in interpreting the archaeological record and human responses to past environments. One hundred forty soil profiles were excavated and described in southern New Mexico and West Texas. Seven major late Quaternary stratigraphic units were found: La Mesa, eolian Jornada (I, II), eolian Isaacks' Ranch, eolian Organ (I, II, and III), Historical Blowsand, and the playa deposits of Petts Tank and Lake Tank. Each unit represents a period of landscape instability, eolian erosion, and concurrent deposition, followed by landscape stability and soil formation. Eolian erosion can form local surficial lag deposits if materials larger than the competence of the wind are present. However, erosional processes alone cannot explain the presence of older clasts at the surface with intact, younger deposits underneath. We propose a combination of processes: deflation in eolian windows, followed by lateral movement of clasts over areas that have not been deflated. The effects of these processes on artifact stratigraphy and archaeological interpretations could be significant. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Magnetometric prospection of various types of large ditched enclosures in BohemiaARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 1 2006Roman K, ivánekArticle first published online: 6 JUN 200 Abstract A systematic combination of aerial and subsequent geophysical surveys over the six years of the ,Settlement Patterns in Prehistoric Bohemia' project yielded much new and often surprising information about the nature of archaeological sites, features and locations in the agricultural lowlands of Bohemia. Newly discovered and verified large ditches represent a group of very diverse and often, in Bohemian archaeology, atypical linear features. The results of large-area magnetometric surveys aided in mapping locations more precisely and in the overall separation of linear features, as well as in choosing among probable archaeological interpretations of the sites. Future archaeological verification of more of these identified atypical situations by test trenches would provide more precise dating, and perhaps unambiguous interpretations of prehistoric sites. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||