Search Results (5)

The paper is dedicated to the study of organic remains in ceramic drinking vessels from protohistoric Northern Italy. These one-handled mugs are a typical item of the prealpine area, dating from the 5th to the 1st century BCE, and possibly carried high cultural value, given their presence in graves and sanctuaries as well as the presence of alphabetic inscriptions on some of them. The sampled items consist of 10 mug bases from the Iron Age sanctuary of Dos dell’Arca (Capo di Ponte, BS) and the coeval settlement of Castello di Castione della Presolana (BG). The analyses included HT-GC-MS and GC-C-IRMS analyses to identify ancient food/beverage products. The results indicate a differentiated use for the two types of mugs (“Breno” and “Dos dell’Arca” types), suggesting a possible shift in cultic habits. While both types were primarily containers for milk consumption, the earliest type was also used for consuming fermented, millet-based beverages, while the latter was covered with some oily vegetal substance before its disposal. Full article

In the hinterland of Soverato (in the Catanzaro province CZ) in Calabria, Italy, in the territory of Gagliato, on a series of terraced plains, the remains of an extensive settlement have been identified with archaeological evidence that includes the various phases of the protohistoric period and the Greek age. In the settlement, numerous protohistoric ceramic finds consisting in fragments of vascular shapes of various sizes and large dolia were recovered. This paper presents the preliminary results of the mineralogical, petrographic and paleontological analyses performed on dolia samples selected on the basis of the typology and the characteristics of the ceramic impasto. The dolia analyses were obtained through various analytical techniques. Petrographic and micropaleontological studies were performed using polarized optical microscopy (POM). The mineralogical analyses were carried out using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), both on selected ceramics and on the clayey and sandy sediments sampled for comparison around the settlement area. Furthermore, micromorphological observations have been performed, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), on selected foraminiferal tests picked up from the clay sediments collected in the study area. Data highlight the remarkable compatibility between the mineralogical composition of the dolia and the sampled sediments, and they confirm that the raw materials for ceramic production may have occurred in an area not far from the settlement, as assumed by archaeologists. Full article

With the name ‘Temesa’ (Latin Tempsa), the ancients identified a settlement located along the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, cited by sources as an international metal exchange emporium. The town is mentioned by Homer as being famous in the ancient world for the production of bronze, and in the I century A.D. Strabo wrote that there were rich copper mines near the city. Many years of study led to the recognition of Temesa as a complex urban system located between the Oliva and Savuto rivers, near Amantea. To confirm this hypothesis, we searched, in the surrounding rocky outcrops, for the presence of minerals useful for the extraction of iron and copper. Samples of 3 different rock stratifications were taken near the protohistoric settlement of Serra Aiello. The observation under an polarized reflected light microscope and the X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the presence of many minerals useful for the extraction of iron and copper in every sample. The heating of samples under both oxidizing and reducing conditions helped us to better quantify copper and iron minerals content causing, at the same time, the appearance of a marked paramagnetic behavior that could be associated with the presence of goethite. X ray fluorescence analysis showed a high concentration of iron and a low copper content. Full article

The application of geochemical analysis in archaeology provides a better understanding of ancient human activities. This paper presents the results of geochemical multi-element, LOI, MS, and geochronological analyses of a cultural layer at the Voorthuizen (The Netherlands) archaeological site. The study has revealed a difference in the geochemical composition of an occupational surface in the Iron Age settlement and an early Roman Time agricultural horizon. The former is enriched in Ba, Sr, Rb, Th, Cl, and Mg, while the latter displays elevated P, Pb, Ni, Mn, and V values. The study has provided a deeper insight into the agricultural techniques applied at the Voorthuizen site and on the so-called Celtic Fields, known as ancient field systems dating from the same period and widespread throughout north-west Europe. It seems that household waste was not used as a fertilizer at Voorthuizen, while the application of manure is characteristic of Celtic Fields. However, phosphorous values in the Voorthuizen agricultural horizon are comparable to those in the Celtic Fields, suggesting similar sources of P in both cases. Elevated Si and “mobile” Fe, Mn, V, Pb, As, and Sn, along with higher MS measurements, are indicative of the use of extra mineral matter for the fertilization of the Voorthuizen ancient arable field. Full article

Using Montarice in central Adriatic Italy as a case study, this paper focuses on the extraction of the spectral (i.e., plant colour) and geometrical (i.e., plant height) components of a crop canopy from archived aerial photographs, treating both parameters as proxies for archaeological prospection. After the creation of orthophotographs and a canopy height model using image-based modelling, new archaeological information is extracted from this vegetation model by applying relief-enhancing visualisation techniques. Through interpretation of the resulting data, a combination of the co-registered spectral and geometrical vegetation dimensions clearly add new depth to interpretative mapping, which is typically based solely on colour differences in orthophotographs. Full article