Methodology and Archaeometry

The ceramic pottery production techniques were investigated by Matlab based 2D and 3D image analysis. Shape parameters of coarse sand grains (>250µm) and shaping techniques of the ceramic body were compared to each other. 70 ceramic pottery sherds in this study were excavated at Ransyrt 1, an archaeological site from the Middle-Late Bronze Age in the North Caucasian mountains, Russia and Kabardinka 2, located in the lower plateau in the same mountains (Late Bronze/ Early Iron Age) were compared to those of the samples excavated at the Mius peninsular and its near environment in Russia (Late/Final Bronze Age), in order to show chronological and regional changes of production techniques. For the image analysis, 2D images of the heterogeneous ceramic composite materials were acquired by the polarized light microscopy and 3D images by the micro-computed tomography (3D-µ-CT). The calculation was performed for the whole sample area, in order to get the representativity for each sample. Together with the mineralogical/chemical composition of the sand grains within the ceramics, the shape parameters such as the size distribution, circularity and sphericity reflect differences in the preparation of ceramic pastes according to the sites. At the same time, these parameters show several groups within the same site, indicating different recipes in this preparation step. From the alignment of processing pores and sand grains, it is possible to identify shaping techniques of the ceramic body. The results from image analysis will be combined with the firing conditions for the ceramic pottery production reconstructed by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy/wavelength-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS/WDS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) from a parallel study, in order to unravel various technological styles that reflect the ancient potter’s practical choices.

This presentation provides the first results of thin section petrographic analysis of Middle Bronze Age Encrusted pottery from the site Jagodnjak-Krčevine, which represent part of a broader data collection deriving from the research project concerning pottery technology during the Bronze Age in northern Croatia. The samples were selected according to the different typological groups of ceramic vessels and they originate mainly from graves. During sample selection, the different decoration styles characteristic of Pannonian Encrusted and Litzen/Kisapostag pottery were also considered. The main goal of this study is to determine the characteristics of raw materials and ceramic pastes used by the potters as well as features of the firing methods. Another aim is to determine whether there are some indications of certain ceramic technological practices related to individual graves. An important objective of this research is to determine whether there are certain patterns in the selection of added tempering materials and how specific technological choices may be interpreted within the framework of economic and social aspects of society. The results of the study show the utilisation of several different kinds of raw materials tempered with grog and rocks. The preliminary results seem to suggest that the selection of clay, as well as the added tempering material, are closely related to vessel forms, the function of the vessels and the decorating techniques applied. We also discuss potters’ selection mechanisms of raw materials (potter’s perception of raw materials) aiming to highlight the social nature of technological choices and consider that functional choices cannot be separated from the social milieu in which the vessels were made.

The classification of the archaeological data has been the subject of a controversial discussion concerning the theoretical and methodological perspectives. The non-linear concepts of evolutionary theory has greatly influenced the conceptual understanding of the methodology of classification of archaeological data and especially that of pottery. In this paper, through closer consideration of the production process and especially the concepts involved with artifact formation, particularly I focus on the ceramics classification and typology attempting to highlight the process of production through four stages: material selection, form, surface, and decoration. I argue that this understanding provides a rational avenue not only for the exploration of the physical choices made in the production system but also considers the conceptual choices embodied to the material. This approach passed over the terms of culture, focusing rather on the ways artifact classification reflects either common or individual choices of the artisans and how they fit to a general system of social values. Indeed, this strategy facilitates extensively any further analysis to ceramic data.

The study of pottery has historically served as a testing ground for archaeological theories, both due to its abundance in the archaeological record and its multifaceted use in the development of various methodological tools for the investigation of issues of exchange and external influence, technological tradition, social organisation, economic trends and other cultural associations in past societies. Although the study of pottery has largely extended the range of tools and techniques beyond traditional approaches that focus on stylistic, morphological and typological attributes aiming at constructing chronological sequences or reconstructing large-scale networks of interaction, recent years in Aegean studies have witnessed an increasing concern towards the technological significance of pottery and its social context from a rather scientific-processual perspective. Despite the ever-growing amount of data and new projects in both the prehistoric Aegean and Anatolia, these in many cases failed to characterise technological practices or changes/continuities that go beyond vessel form and surface finish or even to integrate archaeometric techniques in a meaningful way. The project of Early Bronze Age Heraion on Samos Island, east Aegean (Greece) has successfully demonstrated that questions of production, consumption, and distribution of pottery can be meaningfully approached and old assumptions should be challenged through new studies of archaeological material. The almost complete absence of such work at the eastern Aegean has impeded a better understanding of the islands often thought of as intermediaries in the transmission of finished products, ideas, and people towards west. This has been achieved through typological study, phasing, and contextual analysis for the entire ceramic assemblages covering the third millennium BC, with the integrated study of macroscopic analysis, thin section petrography and microstructural analysis. This is supplemented by consideration of the local geology, ceramic resources and ethnography. Following a chaîne opératoire approach, the stages of manufacture have been reconstructed from a „bottom-up‟ perspective and a more detailed view of local developments has been gained.

It is almost impossible to perform any archaeological research without using some method from other disciplines. We rely on data provided by archaeometrical methods to make our research more specific, more valid, more valuable. Lithic raw material provenance is regarded as an important source of information about technological and social practices of prehistoric communities as well as a possible indicator of their complexities. Therefore archaeologists try with help of geologists to pinpoint the locations of the raw material extraction in hope to find answers about their habits and mutual connections. But what happens when we succeed? When in vast areas of possibilities for obtaining simple and similar raw material we really find the one prehistoric people preferred? We know now when, we know where, even how, but the main question remains. Why? We, archaeologists, deploy more and more various scientific methods, but our main goal remains the same. At that main goal is historical - knowledge about people in the past. So, solid and scientific valid evidence provided by archaeometrical methods are only the raw data, the beginning of archaeological interpretation. In this presentation I will reflect on my own research, present conclusions I tried to drawn and methods I will test to try to construct a valid archaeological explanation of irrational behaviour in the supply of everyday common necessities that archaeometrical analysis detected. In order to investigate human behaviour in the past, we have to turn existing human behaviour and research of social networks to try to understand the complexities of decision making.

The Seuso Treasure, one of the most significant silver treasures of Late Roman Imperial Age, and the late Roman silver folding stand (quadripus) from Kőszárhegy (near Polgárdi, Hungary), which has close connections to the Seuso Treasure, were analysed using (geo)chemical methods in order to determine their elemental composition, provenance of raw material and production technology. Both are dated to the 4th century AD. Handheld X-ray fluorescence analysis was first applied to analyse the objects non-destructively and systematically along a pre-designed grid at several points. In order to determine the bulk chemical and lead isotopic composition of the objects and to verify the handheld XRF results, very small metal samples taken from the different parts of the objects were analysed by using LA-QICP-MS and MC-ICP-MS. The analysed objects consist of rather pure silver (88–98 wt% Ag) intentionally alloyed with copper. The copper content is different in the various parts of the composite objects. Gold, lead and bismuth, the most important trace elements in the silver objects, also show various concentrations among the artefacts suggesting the use of different raw materials. Gold and lead contents of the objects (typically below 1 wt%) indicate that not reused or remelted, but primary, cupelled silver was used for manufacturing the artefacts. The different trace elemental composition (Bi, Au, Pb) of the different parts of the quadripus indicates the use of different silver ingots. In addition, the same parts of the two original feet are very similar regarding their trace element content, therefore series production is supposed. Based on the lead isotopic composition, the raw material of the objects could come from the Balkan area.

The main goal of this study was to determine mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of possible bog iron ore samples found during geological investigations in the vicinity of Molve area. Based on numerous iron processing smelting workshops found throughout Podravina region, and on similar case studies in various archaeological sites in southern Hungary, it is believed that this type of ore was used for iron production from late antiquity up to Middle Ages in NE part of Croatia. Samples were found on the surface and several meters below the surface, with the largest sample weighing over 2 kilograms. In order to better understand bog iron ore and its formation mechanism, several laboratory methods have been performed. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) was used to determine the mineralogical composition of samples. Detail geochemical characterization of two samples was performed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Scanning electron microscopy with adjoining energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) was used in order to better understand the distribution of mineral phases and geochemical components. The main mineralogical components of analyzed samples were quartz, goethite, feldspars and amorphic matter. Samples showed variable concentrations of Fe2O3 (37.86–39.06 wt.%) and MnO (19.17–27.42 wt.%). SEM-EDS analysis enabled characterization on the micromorphological scale, providing information on iron and manganese elemental distribution and possible formation mechanisms. Two different phases were detected, one being crystallized phase composed of iron and manganese minerals and second, amorphous phase, showing slightly different chemical composition with an elevated concentration of barium in the manganese phase. Based on mineralogical and geochemical characteristics, studied ore samples indicate the possibility of bog iron ore formation in Podravina region and its use for iron smelting and production.

Osteometric sex estimation via linear discriminant analysis is one of the most common and the most reliable osteological approaches for sexing skeletal remains applicable also on less preserved skeletons. However, as extrapelvic skeletal dimensions are population specific, discriminant functions need to be developed for each population separately. One of the major drawbacks of this method is also a high degree of overlapping values between male and female measurements that impact sex estimation accuracy. As previous research pointed out to the application of posterior probabilities as a solution, the aim of the present study was to test that approach on the archaeological population and compare accuracy rates of discriminant functions developed by traditional and the novel approach. The sample comprised 207 skeletons from Salona necropoles dated from 1st to 6th century. We estimated sex using pelvic measurements by DSP software and took 70 postcranial measurements. We analyzed sexual dimorphism using ANOVA and selected 10% of measurements that exhibited the highest degree of sexual dimorphism. For those measurements, we developed univariate and multivariate discriminant functions and calculated accuracy using traditional approach and posterior probability threshold set at 0,90. The accuracy of traditionally developed discriminant functions ranged from 83 to 93% while discriminant functions with posterior probability threshold reached accuracy rates ≥ 95% independent of variables that were used. Nevertheless, as the all skeletons could not meet the demanded posterior probability level, the proportion of skeletons that could not be sexed ranged from 15 to 60%. The study confirmed that application of posterior probabilities produces the highest accuracy rate acceptable not only in archaeological context but also in forensic cases. That approach also creates a certain proportion of skeletons for which sex cannot be estimated, which is why researchers, depending on research type must compromise between accuracy and proportion of sexed skeletons.

EU member states have a vast experience regarding the world of archaeology and bioarchaeology. In the last few decades, the well worth significance is given to the human osteological remains, which transforms them from silent findings of ancient times to active witnesses of the past. The data obtained by research on human osteological remains ensures insight on diseases within certain social groups, as well as the context of their genesis and spreading throughout the course of history, but also on dietary habits of the population, level of economic development, certain traumas, occurrence of war, conflicts and violence inside the communities and migrations of larger ethnic groups. Approach to bioarchaeological research in the EU member states, for now, has no attribute of homogeneity and unification, although all the EU member states share certain similarities in processes of excavation, preservation, presentation, transportation, non-destructive and destructive procedures on human osteological material and in other processes correlated with handling human skeletal remains. Goal of this research is, by comparing experiences of different EU member states, to determine the actual level of codification of procedures that deal with human skeletal remains, through research of the legislative framework in EU member states, to explore in which amount laws attribute to quality solutions regarding dealing with human osteological remains, and to provide guidelines for improving methods of researching human remains on basis of positive examples in EU countries. The measure in which legal systems of certain countries give importance to osteological material in relationship to other archaeological findings will be taken into consideration, as well as the defining the differences between forensic and archaeological osteological findings, necessity of presence of archaeologist during the excavation process, taking osteological material out of EU member state for further scientific research, and also other issues of relevance for topic of researching human osteological material.

The presentation provides the results of the zooarchaeological analysis of macromammal remains from Mesolithic layers of the Žukovica cave on the island of Korčula. The layers, which were dated to Mesolithic on the basis of complete lack of ceramic products, were excavated in 2014 as part of the multi-year project aiming to research the prehistoric sites on the island, while the author analysed the faunal remains for his Master’s degree thesis. In addition to the most significant information on natural and cultural background, the research history of the site, excavation methods, description of the material and its processing, the author shall present the acquired data on the identified animal taxa, quantitative details and the results of the taphonomy analysis. By comparing the results, the presentation will deal with the questions regarding animal carcass processing methods in the cave and its vicinity, whether its inhabitants hunted those species for food or some other reason, how often and during which season they visited the cave, whether it served as a residential or hunting camp, etc. By synthesizing the obtained data, the author will try to partially reconstruct the image of the island’s Mesolithic inhabitants’ every-day life and compare the subsistence strategies of Mesolithic hunters from Žukovica with those from the other contemporary sites along the eastern Adriatic coast.

Bone is a biogenic material composed of a soft organic (collagen) and a mineral (bioapatite) tissue. During an organism’s life span, 14C concentration in both bone tissues is equivalent to the atmospheric one. After the death of the organism, 14C concentration starts to decrease due to 14C radioactive decay, thus enabling carbon dating. The bioapatite part of the bone is quite porous and susceptible to diagenesis, i.e., some carbon from the bone carbonate can be dissolved, and the carbonate from the environment can precipitate. On the other hand, collagen is a very long and stabile organic molecule. For this reason, when bones are dated, usually the collagen is extracted and used as a representative bone constituent. Collagen is usually well preserved in humid conditions, while at arid regions, it can be completely degraded. In cremated bone, due to the very high temperature involved in cremation, all of the collagen is lost, but also the bone bioapatite restructures to a denser composition and prevents environmental carbonate to precipitate inside the bone structure. The carbon of the carbonate left in the cremated bone originates from structural carbonate in bioapatite, from burned collagen and from wood used as fuel for burning. Only, in this case, the apatite can be used as a reliable bone constituent for dating. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating technique enables dating of quite small bone fragments. The 14C AMS was introduced in the Zagreb Radiocarbon laboratory almost 11 years ago. Here we will present some dates of apatite and collagen part of the bones and procedures for their 14C AMS analyses. Also, how to decide when the bone is well preserved, how to select the reliable part of non–cremated bone and how to recognize the reliable cremated bone will be discussed.

Radiocarbon (14C) dating is a convenient and accurate method of absolute dating of organic materials. By measuring the 14C remained in the organic material we can determine the time elapsed since the death of the organism. Wood is a very reliable material for 14C dating and the calibration curves were obtained by precise dating of tree rings up to 12,000 years old. However, olive trees represent a kind of tree that does not save the oldest tree rings - the inner and oldest part of the trunk in olive trees usually rots, making the radiocarbon analysis of material from the first years of the life of the tree impossible. The Old olive tree (Olea europaea L.) on the Veli Brijun Island, National Park Brijuni, Istria, Croatia, was expected to be 1600 years old. The inside of the Old olive tree was hollow so that the central, older wood was missing. Five samples were taken from the inner side of the trunk. All the results were obtained by AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) measurement technique that enables analysis of very small samples containing a few milligrams of carbon. The conventional radiocarbon age expressed in years Before Present (BP) were calibrated by OxCal software using the IntCal13 calibration curve. The calibrated ages and age spans are expressed as "cal AD". Four samples resulted in conventional radiocarbon ages of up to 150 BP. After calibration, it was found that the wood was not older than 300 years. This is in agreement with most other radiocarbon dates of internal wood from living olive trees, rarely older than 300 years. The last sample clearly indicated a younger branch dated to the period cal AD 1979 – 1981, showing thus the complexity of the olive trunk structure.

The paper presents the preliminary results of archaeobotanical analysis of carbonised plant remains discovered inside the house dated to the Late Bronze Age. The samples have been collected at the archaeological site Kalnik-Igrišče during excavation campaigns 2016 and 2017. The plant remains were discovered inside the well-preserved remains of the house which was divided into three units. The spatial distribution of the archaeological findings and their characteristics seem to indicate a different function of each unit. The main objective of the research is to determine which types of carbonized plant macrofossils are present in the object and to establish whether there is any regularity in their appearance in relation to the position inside the house and in relation to other archaeological finds (eg. hearth area, area of deposited pottery remains, area of organic residues). The aim is also to compare the new data set with the results of the already conducted archaeobotanical research done on the sample from the nearby object that dates to the same archaeological period. A total of 54 samples was analysed containing 7417 carbonized plant macrofossils. The most numerous were the findings of barley, millet, wheat, faba bean and oak. The results of the archaeobotanical analysis show that the inhabitants of Kalnik-Igrišče consumed cultivated plants (cereals and legumes) and collected various edible fruits from nature. The comparison with the previous archaeobotanical researches of the same site shows that the plant species and their frequencies are quite similar, however, some other species as well as carbonized thermally processed food remains have been recorded also.

The archaeological site of Ripač is the first discovered prehistoric pile-dwelling settlement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the village of Ripač which lies on river Una in the southeastern part of the Bihać plain. The settlement extended along the Una River between and on Velika and Mala otoka (river eyots) as well as on two smaller islands. The prehistoric remains belong to the material culture of Illyrian tribe Japodes. The settlement had been inhabited during the Iron age as well as the Antics and the Middle Ages. The site was investigated several times but first investigations conducted by Radimský, Fiala, and Ćurčić during the period from 1893 until 1897 were the most extensive ones. Part of the material found at that time was analyzed and processed but a large part of the unexamined material can be found in the National Museum in Sarajevo. The unexamined plant material was brought from Sarajevo to Division of Botany of the Faculty of Science in Zagreb. I analyzed that material and revised smaller part of material previously examined in the late 19th century. I used a dry sieving method as well as the Grid-method for sub-sampling since the sample amount was large. The sample contained mostly carbonized cereal grains which are preserved excellent so the determination of species was really successful. The results showed that the most common cereal found was Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccon Schrank; grain, fragments of grain, spikelet fork), other wheat species are less present. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), oat (Avena sativa L.) as well as legumes and different seeds of wild fruit and weeds were also found. This kind of research provides insight into the life of prehistoric inhabitants, above all their diet, farming, and environmental impact.

Many authors suggest that there is a co-evolutionary relationship between Palaeolithic stone toolmaking and language. This assumption is, firstly, supported by experimental studies showing positive effects of verbal compared to a non-verbal demonstration during stone toolmaking acquisition in present-day humans. Secondly, it is backed by neurophysiological studies which demonstrate that both toolmaking and language activate overlapping brain regions and that they exhibit similar hemodynamic lateralization patterns in present-day humans. These studies have mainly been focused on Oldowan flaking and Acheulean handaxe manufacture. Studies on the effects of the verbal and non-verbal transmission modes currently suggest that both Oldowan and Acheulean acquisition are facilitated by non-linguistic gestures rather than purely spoken language. Furthermore, neuroimaging studies have found that the prefrontal cortex, an area typically associated with executive functioning, and the temporal cortex are activated more during Acheulean compared to Oldowan tasks. We recruited twelve Croatian-speaking subjects with no prior experience in knapping. Subjects were taught the Oldowan chopper and Mousterian sidescraper manufacture in a verbal teaching and non-verbal basic teaching condition. Tool quality was assessed by measurements of various physical attributes and a subjective evaluation by two assessors on a 5-point scale. Subjects were also tested on a neuropsychological battery assessing visual attention, verbal working memory, visuospatial processing, planning, cognitive flexibility, general executive functioning and lexical-semantic processing. We hypothesize that there will be no significant differences between the verbal and non-verbal groups in the chopper manufacture task and that the verbal group will perform significantly better compared to the non-verbal group in the sidescraper manufacture task. Additionally, we hypothesize that chopper manufacture will be significantly positively correlated only with the visual processing tasks, while sidescraper manufacture will also be significantly positively correlated with the prefrontal functioning tasks. The obtained results will be interpreted within the framework of current evolutionary and cognitive theories.