Article | Le Paléolithique ancien des Marches, Italie.

Source : https://doi.org/10.4000/baefe.7570

Initié en 2019 et interrompu en raison de la pandémie de COVID, le programme de recherche sur le Paléolithique ancien des Marches se poursuit dans le cadre d’un nouveau projet quinquennal de l’EFR. Nous sommes en recherche tant de vestiges archéologiques que de séquences stratigraphiques du Pléistocène moyen dans cette région susceptibles de restituer l’évolution culturelle, climatique et environnementale locale. Les indices de sites sont nombreux, et tant les prospections anciennes que les recherches menées par l’Université de Ferrare par le passé témoignent du fort potentiel de la région pour la conservation des sites. Une intervention souhaitée sur le terrain par voie de sondages et de fouilles, est précédée d’une recherche en musée et en archives, et d’une étude de la carte géologique, afin de cibler les zones à investir […]

Article | Le roi et la reine font compte à part. Marguerite de Provence et la séparation des comptes royaux de l’Hôtel (1261)

Source : https://www.cairn.info/revue-clio-femmes-genre-histoire-2022-2-page-231.htm

Le roi et la reine de France font compte à part : si la séparation du roi et de la reine comme mode habituel de vie de couple princier est bien actée à la fin du Moyen Âge, qu’en était-il au xiiie siècle, c’est-à-dire au moment de l’émergence de l’hôtel réginal ? Si la question des institutions et de l’entourage royaux a fait l’objet d’une attention renouvelée ces dernières années elle n’a pas vraiment concerné l’hôtel de la reine. Pourtant la naissance de cet hôtel dans le royaume de France est peut-être à replacer dans un contexte bien plus politique que les historiens ne le laissaient à penser. En effet, l’étude de la personnalité de Marguerite de Provence (1221-1295) mérite de soulever d’intéressants questionnements en lien avec cette thématique. Il s’agit également d’élaborer une réflexion sur la chronologie de l’apparition institutionnelle de l’hôtel réginal, indépendamment de celui du roi, et de montrer que Marguerite de Provence est probablement la première reine en Occident à en posséder un.

Article | Retour à Combe-Grèze (La Cresse, Aveyron) : nouvelles données sur la néolithisation des Grands Causses

Source : https://doi.org/10.4000/pm.3920

Situé dans une doline sur le Causse Noir, à une dizaine de kilomètres au nord-est de Millau, le petit abri de Combe-Grèze a d’abord été fouillé dans la seconde moitié du xxsiècle, puis a fait l’objet d’un récent retour sur le terrain par les auteurs du présent article. Ce site, occupé à différents moments de l’Holocène, a été largement mobilisé dans les scénarios de néolithisation des arrière-pays. Cependant, les travaux de terrain conduits depuis quelques années à l’extérieur de l’abri et un retour sur les collections anciennes permettent de nuancer nettement les interprétations anciennes, mettant notamment en évidence l’existence de nombreux problèmes de mélanges d’occupations. Ainsi, nous proposons ici une réactualisation des données disponibles concernant ce gisement, notamment pour ce qui concerne la nature des occupations, la chronologie, les productions matérielles issues des différentes occupations, les ressources exploitées et la précision du cadre paléo-environnemental.

Article | The ARchaeological Organic residues Literature Database (AROLD): Construction of a tool for reviewing and querying published lipid data in organic residue analysis

Source : https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12869

The first attempts to identify amorphous organic substances in archaeology date to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The 1960s saw the development of infrared spectrometry, and then separative and mass spectrometry analyses were implemented in the 1980s. But it is only since the 1990s that extended and systematic research programmes were devoted to these substances. The number of publications has not stopped growing and is becoming exponential. To get an overview of the lipid studies in archaeology, we conceived the ARchaeological Organic residues Literature Database (AROLD) as a first structured and collaborative research tool. This paper describes the challenges of setting up such a database, details its architecture, presents the choices involved in its implementation, and discusses the possibilities of sharing and evolving this tool.

Article | Neolithic shepherds and sheepfold caves in Southern France and adjacent areas: An overview from 40 years of bioarchaeological analyses

Source : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2023.03.004

Résumé : In southern France, the analysis of fossil dung layers from caves and shelters occupied by the first Neolithic farmers has provided a wealth of information about the lives of shepherds and their flocks, and thus on pastoral systems. Since the early 1980s, the development of sedimentological, archaeozoological and archaeobotanical studies has made possible to collect a large amount of data. More recently, the implementation of a whole range of innovative approaches allows a more detailed approach to pastoralism. This paper proposes a synthetic approach of 40 years of bioarchaeological analysis on Neolithic sheepfold caves (grottes-bergeries). Their interpretation focuses on understanding the early agropastoral system: pastoral use of wild and cultivated plant resources (fodder, litter, care and health of livestock), mobility systems, seasonality, practices and appropriation of territory.

Article | Dietary traits of the ungulates from the Middle Pleistocene sequence of Lazaret Cave: palaeoecological and archaeological implications

Source : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01719-2

Dietary traits in ungulates from Lazaret Cave were analysed for possible changes in ecological niches throughout the marine isotopic stage (MIS) 6 sequence of the site and to investigate the duration of the occupations corresponding to the accumu- lation of ungulate remains by human groups. The analysis revealed changes in dietary diversity throughout the sequence related to the climatic and environmental changes of the MIS 6. These changes affected the availability of vegetal resources, competition among species, and the distribution and movement of the ungulates in the territory. Human groups were also affected by these changes, as the archaeological record of Lazaret Cave in the duration of occupations at the different levels shows. The response of the large mammal communities to persistent climatic instability is reflected in differences between the sites of southern France of the MIS 6, where species show different dietary traits.

Ouvrage | Bassit 2 (Syrie) Fouilles Paul Courbin (1971-1984). Le tell du XVIe siècle av-J-C au VIe siècle ap. J-C.

Source : https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503593227-1

À 50 km au Nord de Lattaquié, le site côtier de Bassit a été étudié sous la direction de Paul Courbin : après l’acropole (1971–1972) (périodes hellénistique et romaine), et la nécropole du Fer (1973–1974), le « tell » a été fouillé de 1972 à 1984. Sont présentés ici une description détaillée de la stratigraphie et de l’architecture du « tell », des ensembles céramiques associés, ainsi que le corpus du mobilier datant du Bronze Récent I et II. Bassit est installé aux marges Nord du royaume d’Ougarit à partir du milieu du XVIe s. av. J.-C. Les importations chypriotes sont nombreuses durant tout le Bronze Récent, mais la céramique égéenne apparaît très rare. Le site est détruit bien avant le passage des « peuples de la mer » (vers 1200). A l’âge du Fer, la fonction constante de Bassit est de contrôler l’accès maritime depuis Chypre et le cabotage littoral. Le commerce de la céramique chypriote domine le Fer I et II, celui des céramiques égéennes et étrusques, puis attiques, le Fer III. À l’époque hellénistique, la production d’amphores et de monnaies confirme l’identification de Posideion avec Bassit. L’époque romaine est également marquée par une importante production de céramique.

Article | Dietary traits of the ungulates from the Middle Pleistocene sequence of Lazaret Cave: palaeoecological and archaeological implications

Source : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01719-2

Dietary traits in ungulates from Lazaret Cave were analyzed for possible changes in ecological niches throughout the marine isotopic stage (MIS) 6 sequence of the site and to investigate the duration of the occupations corresponding to the accumulation of ungulate remains by human groups. The analysis revealed changes in dietary diversity throughout the sequence related to the climatic and environmental changes of the MIS 6. These changes affected the availability of vegetal resources, competition among species, and the distribution and movement of the ungulates in the territory. Human groups were also affected by these changes, as the archaeological record of Lazaret Cave in the duration of occupations at the different levels shows. The response of the large mammal communities to persistent climatic instability is reflected in differences between the sites of southern France of the MIS 6, where species show different dietary traits.

Article | Enhanced continental weathering (δ 7 Li, εNd) during the rise of East African complex polities: an early large-scale anthropogenic forcing?

Source : https://doi.org/10.5802/crgeos.169

Human-induced environmental disturbances during the Holocene have provided support for the Early Anthropogenic Hypothesis (EAH), which proposes that with the advent of agro-pastoralism and associated deforestation, humans have modified CO2 and CH4 concentrations into the atmosphere. However, only limited evidence exists for human driven chemical alteration of the Earth’s Critical Zone (ECZ) in early antiquity. Here, we explore the impact of human activities on both erosion and chemical weathering patterns in the Nile basin during a time interval that includes the rise of the Aksumite Kingdom and Late Antique Egypt (3–1 ka BP). By coupling lithium and neodymium isotopes (δ7Li, εNd) in clay-size fractions of two marine sediment cores from the Nile Deep Sea Fan (NDSF), we reconstruct the variability of sediment provenance and silicate weathering intensity in the Nile basin over the last 9000 years. Our high temporal resolution data show that for the last 3000 years, the Rosetta Nile Deep Sea Fan has been increasingly fed with clays delivered from the Ethiopian basaltic highlands (εNd=∼-1), despite the absence of hydrological intensification and major climatic drivers over that region. Concomitantly, the clay Li isotopic composition shifted towards lower δ7Li values (δ7Li=1 to 2), yielding unprecedented negative values for at least the last 100,000 years. Combined with other archaeological, paleo-pedological and organic chemistry inferences, the Li–Nd isotope proxy records indicate a link between the intensification of continental weathering and intensified land-use and water management during the Pre-Aksumite (3 to 2 ka BP) and Aksumite (2 to 1 ka BP) periods. Therefore, our results provide direct support to the hypothesis of an early and large scale anthropogenic forcing on continental chemical weathering. A comparison with previously published records for Central Africa, Central Europe and China suggests that the impact of the intensification of early agriculture on the ECZ may have operated at a global scale starting around four thousand years ago.

Article | Artificial Intelligence-Based Low-Terahertz Imaging for Archaeological Shards Classification

Source : https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2022.3189553

Abstract :
In order to map the migration and introduction of farming into Europe during the seventh and sixth millennia Before Common Era, archeologists have made a connection between the study of pottery and farming migration. We are interested here in the classification of pottery into coiling and spiral types based on their manufacturing techniques. To distinguish between these two techniques, we look for the lines formed by air bubbles embedded in the pottery samples. Current methods make use of bulky systems, such as computerized tomography scanners or synchrotrons. Microwave acquisition and processing offer an interesting alternative, due to the possibility to have compact and portable systems. In this article, we investigate the classification of pottery based on low-terahertz measurements in the D-band. We process the measurements with 3-D fast Fourier transform. The resulting matrix is classified with an artificial neural network, multilayer perceptron, which is optimized with the gray wolf optimizer, a bioinspired algorithm. The first results show that the accuracy reaches up to 99% using all the acquired spatial and frequency measurements. Then, we optimize the millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) measurement system with a critical criterion on accuracy in two different scenarios. In the first scenario, we reduce the spatial acquisition but maintain the wideband operation and the results show that the accuracy is between 85% and 96%. In the second one, we reduce the spatial acquisition and use a single frequency. For this second scenario, we achieve a classification accuracy, which is between 77% and 100%.