Landscape Archaeology

In the historical period, the Fars region in Iran was one of the most important cultural areas in the world, and it is considered the origin of the ancient Achaemenid and Sasanian empires. Although some areas of Sarchahan county have been studied well, no archaeological survey has been conducted there until the construction of Khansaar Dam and rescue operations in its area. As part of an archaeological survey in the Toujerdi district of Sarchahan county, 92 cairn burials were found. According to the survey conducted in five areas around Khansaar Dam, the distribution of cairn burials, commonly known as Khereftkhaneh, has been identified. From Pakistan to the west of Iran, this type of burial method can be observed, and the burials of Toujerdi region can be considered associated with burials from the Parthian and Sasanian periods.

Durante os anos 80 parte da Europa tomava consciencia da necessidade de encontrar novos rumos para a proteccao do patrimonio2 arqueologico. Estavamos numa altura em que as modificacoes da paisagem, inerentes ao desenvolvimento, se tornavam desastrosas para os vestigios arqueologicos. Nessa decada, as criacoes e enunciacoes do Estado portugues pretendiam ja ir ao encontro da politica dos paises a que se aliava, criando-se o Instituto Portugues do Patrimonio Cultural.3 Nos anos 90 o Instituto Portugues do Patrimonio Arquitectonico e Arqueologico substitui aquela entidade, tendo-se ja entao temido uma secundarizacao da actividade arqueologica. A fragil estruturacao da actividade arqueologica em Portugal nao permitia uma efectiva salvaguarda do patrimonio e da informacao de interesse relevante, nao estando totalmente de acordo com a Constituicao da Republica Portuguesa, nem com os acordos internacionais de que o pais era ja signatario. Como ponto de chegada, ponto de partida e tambem, s...

Despite archaeological interest in the study of the origins of public architecture in the Andes, there remain a number of gaps in our knowledge, especially in the area between the Chancay and Lurin Valleys on the central coast of Peru. This situation may, in part, result from how we have approached the study of the Formative period. In particular, the lack of intensive studies in several types of sites and valleys means that we have incomplete knowledge of wider settlement systems. As a result, we know very little about the existence of smaller settlements, only the great public centres. Nor do we understand how the unique occupational histories of each site and valley developed. This is despite the fact that investigations of the period began with middens and sites with modest architecture such as Bellavista or Ancón (Uhle 1906; Rosas 2007). Yet this shortcoming has not been an obstacle to formulating explanatory models, which have focused on the origin of early public architecture...

El presente artículo presenta un recorrido sobre la importancia y la presencia del ciervo en las manifestaciones culturales y religiosas de los pueblos noreuropeos antiguos, especialmente los nórdicos. Para ello analizaremos tanto su función en las estructuras simbólicas y culturales de estos pueblos como su especial significación ritual, y veremos cómo su relativa pérdida de vigencia en las fuentes escritas que conservan el sustrato mitológico precristiano nórdico facilitó su posterior reinterpretación en clave cristiana. Gracias a ello, el ciervo adquirió matices cristológicos como representación del bien, en contraposición a sus enemigos naturales, serpientes y dragones, tan omnipresentes en el universo conceptual de estos pueblos.

This chapter provides an overview of colonization, indigenous resilience, and social justice in Caribbean archaeology. It starts with how the colonial expansion in the Caribbean played a crucial role in shaping the landscape of the European powers. The indigenous history of the local Carribean has been strongly biased towards perpetuating colonialist representations of the past indigenous people. The chapter explains how archaeology can become an important element in the search for balance in the distribution of opportunities, privileges and education for Caribbean societies. It cites that, in order to achieve social justice, the voices of indigenous populations and local communities must be amplified without continuing to maintain an asymmetric relationship between the interlocutors of the past.

This report presents a summary account of two surveys undertaken by the authors to determine and interpret the alignments of the western and eastern passage tombs at Knowth, Co. Meath. The findings indicate that contrary to earlier suggestions, the eastern passage and the western passage (inner and outer) are not aligned towards sunrise and sunset respectively at the period of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.

The soil mantle of the tropical karst landscapes of southern Mexico was a key resource for ancient Maya agriculture and experienced deep transformation due to long-term human impacts under changing environmental conditions. We conducted a comparative analysis of three compound soil toposequences in mountainous (Sierra de Chiapas/Middle Usumacinta Valley, Busiljá, and Chinikihá archaeological sites) and platform (NE Yucatán Peninsula, Yalahau region) karst landscapes to reconstruct general tendencies and regional variations in pedodiversity development and soil–human interactions since the Early Preclassic Period. Toposequence characterization is based on macro- and micromorphological observations, accompanied by a suite of laboratory data. Calcareous upland geoforms of all toposequences have similar soil combinations consisting of shallow Rendzina and deep red clayey Terra Rossa types of profiles. We argue that Rendzinas, now dominant in the upland soil cover, in most cases, are not a product of incipient pedogenesis on limestone; they have developed from the residues of Terra Rossa soils after their advanced erosion. Pedosediments generated by ancient soil erosion have been found in the piedmont and depression positions in the mountainous landscapes of Chiapas, as a result of lateral downslope soil removal, and in the subsurface karstic cavities in the platform of NE Yucatán, indicating vertical “soil piping.” The soils of the lowland domains show contrasting differences between the toposequences: gleyic clay–rich soils and humic alluvial soils prevail in Chinikihá and Busiljá, whereas hydromorphic carbonate soils have formed in Yalahau karstic depressions. These differences in the lowland soil properties led to divergent ancient Maya land use strategies; in Chinikihá and Busiljá, the major agricultural domain was developed in the lowlands, implying largescale artificial drainage. On the contrary, in Yalahau, mostly upland Rendzinas were cultivated, implying “precision agriculture” and “container gardening.”

The Catawba Meadows (31BK18) and Ensley (31BK468) sites, located in Burke County, North Carolina, are two Late Mississippian settlements that are associated with the Burke phase chiefdom of Joara. The Burke phase is conventionally dated from AD 1400 to 1600; the finer details of this sequence, especially how the people of Joara developed into a major polity by the mid-sixteenth-century, can be supported by the analysis of AMS radiocarbon data. This poster applies Bayesian modeling to AMS data taken from these two sites, illustrating patterns of generational continuity and change inherent in the development of the Joara Chiefdom.

To link prehistoric settlement activities with a modern mapping of existing monuments on the site, non-invasive aerial and terrestrial prospection methods are used. The LiDAR data catches the course of the presumed prehistoric rampart. The geomagnetic measurements display, among other things, the course of a 250 m long prehistoric ditch. Furthermore, ERT measurements reveal the rampart’s inner construction

Falerio Picenus (now Piane di Falerone) was a rather important town in Antiquity, as we can presume
from the ancient sources, from the communication routes that crossed it, and from the remains of the
ancient monuments still preserved. A theatre, an amphitheatre, monumental cisterns and tombs were
discovered, but all of them were stripped of their decorations during Late Antiquity and Middle Ages.
This paper presents a three-dimensional reconstruction of the city’s theatre, based on a new survey of
the structures using a long-range 3D laser scanner, combined and integrated with photogrammetry and
direct survey. The model is supposed to serve not only as a show case of the original shape of the public
building, but also as a real research tool.

Vineyards are beginning to attract serious attention in heritage circles. In July 2015 UNESCO's World Heritage Committee added terroir and vineyard landscapes in France, Italy and Spain to the World Heritage List. Of the 14 wine growing areas recognised as world heritage by UNESCO, none are in Australia. Before that can even be contemplated, any areas must get Australian recognition. The Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association is therefore seeking, as a precursor to national and world heritage listing, NSW state heritage listing of the Hunter Valley wine landscape, which includes some of the world's oldest remaining Syrah wine rootstock.

We report on the salvage, conservation and archaeological analysis of two cast iron naval guns from the Northern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. The artefacts were discovered by recreational divers in three metres of water off the beach of Ezerets. They are nearly identical and represent mid-19 th century 12-pounder carronades. The exposed shallow-water nature of the site and the threat of illicit salvage warranted recovery and conservation efforts to ensure their preservation. In December 2022, the guns were salvaged by an archaeological mission of the Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Sozopol, and transported to the Central Laboratory for Conservation of the Bulgarian National Museum of History. After undergoing conservation, the carronades are now displayed in replica carriages as part of the museum's maritime collection.

The paper discusses new finds of Roman coins yielded by regular surveys conducted in 2018. The research area was confined to the micro-region of the Rivers Psina and Troja basins within the Krzanowice and Pietrowice Wielkie Communes. In the Roman Period these territories were subject to intensive settlement of the Przeworsk Culture, to which an assemblage of seven denarii found at three sites must be related. Two of these coins are Republican denarii, while the remaining ones date to the Imperial Period. These finds are yet another premise for studies on the issue of inflow of Roman coins to the territory of the Central European Barbaricum and their use by local communities.