Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

With this study we expand the glass data available for northeast Thailand through the analysis of elemental and isotopic (Sr-Nd-Pb) compositions of glass beads from Non Ban Jak. This site, located in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Northeast Thailand, yielded more than 3000 glass artifacts dating from the mid-late Iron Age (CE 200-850). A representative selection of sixty-five glass beads was analyzed for elemental compositions, and Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic data were obtained for 10 of these beads. Most of the beads belong to the mineral soda – high alumina (m-Na-Al) 1 glass group, which originated from either Sri Lanka or southern India. Three color-specific sub-groups were identified: m-Na-Al 1.1, m-Na-Al 1.2 and m-Na-Al 1.3. Two glass samples with an orange color have a mixed-alkali composition also associated with India. Two glass beads have a potash composition usually associated with the Early Iron Age period and the South China Sea exchange network. Translucent dark blue beads have a soda-lime composition suggesting import from the west (the Mediterranean area or the Middle East). Results for Non Ban Jak show strong similarities with results from the neighboring sites of Ban Non Wat and Noen-U Loke and seem to share a strong connection during the Late Iron Age with South India/Sri Lanka.

Fourteenth–fifteenth century food refuse from the kitchen of the Esztergom archbishopric shows a significant diachronic increase in cyprinid bones, in particular those of carp. Meanwhile, contributions by large acipenserids and carnivorous species (catfish/wels, pike, percids) declined. Contemporaneous account books indirectly suggest that the archbishop’s kitchen must have increasingly relied on farmed carp fish. Sturgeons were a commodity sold by the archbishopric but rarely consumed. Expensive pikes were bought at low prices for the archbishop, possibly related to the small size of individuals found in the deposits. The poor representation of high-status fish is consonant with the scarcity of bones from large game in an assemblage dominated by domesticates. Wild game is represented by brown hare, partridge, and a variety of thrushes. These finds confirm that the foodways in the archbishop’s palace were more modest than expected on the basis of its social status. Increasing contributions by cyprinids and sterlet to the assemblage also coincide with the high relative frequency of their recipes in a sixteenth century cookbook.

This article presents a preliminary attempt to characterise Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula prehistoric iron technologies based on assemblages from two recently excavated coastal sites: Khao Sam Kaeo and Phu Khao Thong. These are the earliest known sites involved in the early trans-Asian exchange that connected the eastern Indian Ocean to the South China Sea from the mid-first millennium bc. It is from this period that iron assemblages start appearing at both continental and insular Southeast Asian sites. Three models have been offered confronting an indigenous vs. Chinese or South Asian impetus for the introduction of iron metallurgy in Southeast Asia. These models are discussed in the light of the metallographic and compositional analyses of iron and slag assemblages from these two sites using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence and slag inclusion analysis techniques, together with other production materials from these and other contemporaneous Southeast Asian sites.

Great Moravia was one of the first proto-states in East Central Europe. During the ninth century, Moravian settlements underwent rapid growth, development, and population increases. This study presents a first insight into early medieval population mobility in the area by investigating one of its major agglomerations and religious centres, the Mikulčice-Valy stronghold. According to strontium isotope analysis of human tooth enamel, 13–19% of 123 analysed individuals fall outside the estimated local 87Sr/86Sr ranges and represent migrants from at least three distinct areas. Furthermore, human 87Sr/86Sr ratios are shifted in comparison to faunal references, which could indicate a greater rate of migration from isotopically similar areas. No evidence supporting the presumed higher mobility of elite females was found, but immigration is more prevalent among elites, with an apparent lack of non-elite males among the non-locals. Possible factors contributing to mobility are questioned and might offer directions for future studies.

In order to compare the early life experiences of different population subgroups from the Early Medieval center of Mikulčice, carbon and nitrogen isotopic values were measured in dentine serial sections from the first permanent molar of 78 individuals. Age at death, sex (estimated in subadults with the help of proteomics), and socio-economic status were considered explicative variables. Average values of both nitrogen and carbon maximal isotopic offset within the isotopic profile were 3.1 ± 0.8‰ for Δ15Nmax and 1.6 ± 0.8‰ for Δ13Cmax. Individuals who died during the first decade of life showed earlier ages at the stabilization of the nitrogen isotopic curve (suggesting complete weaning) than older individuals. Most individuals (n = 43) showed positive covariance between δ15N and δ13C values during the period of breastfeeding. The average δ15N values from the post-weaning period were similar to those of bone, while post-weaning δ13C values were significantly higher. Though an increased Δ15Nmax may potentially be evidence of physiological stress, the intra-population comparison of early life experiences does not suggest that individuals who died during their first decade experienced greater levels of environmental stress during infancy. The predominance of positive covariance between carbon and nitrogen isotopic values during the breastfeeding period, together with an increased Δ13Cmax and increased post-weaning δ13C, suggests that millet either was a part of a special diet preferred during lactation or was introduced as a first dietary supplement.

Olieboomspoort is one of the few rock shelters in the vast interior of southern Africa documenting pulses of occupation from the Acheulean until the end of the Later Stone Age. Revil Mason excavated the site in 1954 and attributed the large Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic assemblage to his middle phase of the so-called Pietersburg Industry. Recent work at the site has focused on the Holocene layers, but little is known about the earlier phases of shelter use. Here, we provide some background to the shelter, give a history of past research and present initial results following renewed fieldwork at the site. The MSA deposits contain abundant lithic artefacts and ochre, and we present an initial description of these cultural remains. Palynological analysis reveals limited potential for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, but some faunal remains indicate open grasslands. We dated two equid teeth that provided highly consistent combined U-series-ESR estimates, resulting in a mean age of 150 ± 14 ka (1σ). Even when considering potential sources of uncertainty such as variations in water-intake, these fossils can securely be dated to Marine Isotopic Stage 6. Our reappraisal of site formation processes highlights the fact that the archaeological assemblage is strongly time-averaged. We discuss these different results in the context of a recently rekindled interest in the so-called Pietersburg Industry.

For over 3 million years hominins held stone-cutting tools in the hand, gripping the portion of tool displaying a sharp cutting edge directly. During the late Middle Pleistocene human populations started to produce hafted composite knives, where the stone element displaying a sharp cutting edge was secured in a handle. Prevailing archaeological literature suggests that handles convey benefits to tool users by increasing cutting performance and reducing musculoskeletal stresses, yet to date these hypotheses remain largely untested. Here, we compare the cutting performance of hafted knives, ‘basic’ flake tools, and large bifacial tools during two standardized cutting tasks. Going further, we examine the comparative ergonomics of each tool type through electromyographic (EMG) analysis of nine upper limb muscles. Results suggest that knives (1) recruit muscles responsible for digit flexion (i.e. gripping) and in-hand manipulation relatively less than alternative stone tool types and (2) may convey functional performance benefits relative to unhafted stone tool alternatives when considered as a generalised cutting tool. Furthermore, our data indicate that knives facilitate greater muscle activity in the upper arm and forearm, potentially resulting in the application of greater cutting forces during tool use. Compared to unhafted prehistoric alternatives, hafted stone knives demonstrate increased ergonomic properties and some functional performance benefits. These factors would likely have contributed to the invention and widespread adoption of hafted stone knives during the late Middle Pleistocene.

Bioarchaeological studies of dental caries have found that females often exhibit a higher prevalence of dental caries than their male counterparts. While this trend is most often noted in prehistoric agricultural populations, recent research has also indicated a higher prevalence of dental caries among prehistoric female hunter-gatherers from California’s Central Valley Windmiller culture (4500–2500 BP) compared to their male counterparts. This study expands on this earlier research to include additional Windmiller culture sites to test the hypothesis that females display greater caries prevalence than males. The prevalence of dental caries was assessed utilizing the dentitions of male and female individuals at four archeological sites in the California Central Valley: CA-SAC-107, CA-SJO-142, CA-SJO-56, and CA-SJO-68. A ‘caries correction’ factor was applied to account for antemortem tooth loss (ATML) from attrition versus AMTL due to caries. The results indicate that while females in all of the Central Valley populations analyzed display a greater proportion of dental caries than males, the difference is only statistically significant at CA-SJO-56 and CA-SJO-68. The prevalence rates at CA-SAC-107 approach significance, but are likely not significant due to sample size, while the lack of significance at CA-SJO-142 may be due to extremely high rates of dental attrition. While physiological differences likely contributed to the disparity in dental caries prevalence, these results suggest that differential access to resources, resulting from the sexual division of labor, also contributed to the higher rate of dental caries among females at these Windmiller sites.

The significance of the role of birds in hominin evolution in Island Southeast Asia is not clear. Few avian vertebrate deposits have been recovered from archaeological or fossil sites in the region, and their association with either hominin or natural deposition in caves and rock shelters complicates their usefulness in hominin behavioural and palaeoecological reconstructions. In this paper, we assess the taphonomic history of the Pleistocene avian vertebrate remains recovered from Laili Cave, Timor-Leste, dated to between ca. 44.6 to 11.2 ka and in association with abundant lithic material. We use avian taxonomic composition, skeletal element abundance, and bone surface modification data to determine the agent of avian skeletal deposition. Our analyses indicate that the small grassland and woodland birds (quail, buttonquail, song birds), which dominate the assemblage, were deposited by avian predators (probably barn owls) throughout the sequence. Humans possibly hunted the small quantity of larger birds (imperial pigeon, duck). The bird remains suggest that grasslands, woodland savannahs, wetlands, and forest environments were present locally during the Pleistocene.