Tafonomía de un pueblo: el sitio Mariano Miró de principios del siglo XX (departamento de Chapaleufú, La Pampa, Argentina)

The Mariano Miró archaeological site (Chapaleufú Department, La Pampa Province, Argentina) was a town of nearly 500 inhabitants, founded in 1901 and abandoned in 1911. From the Historical Archaeology perspective, this paper aims to reconstruct the taphonomic histories of surface artifact assemblages from the Mariano Miró ghost town. We analyze taphonomic processes at both the artifact and the assemblage level, considering multiple variables including size, thermal alteration, weathering, site topography, trampling, anthropic activities and burrowing animal activities. We use GIS to interrelate the selected variables and assess the roles of various taphonomic agents in shaping the characteristics and distributions of materials at Mariano Miró. The information pertaining to formation processes obtained from Mariano Miró is potentially useful for generating expectations for and understanding other sites in the region that exhibit similar taphonomic conditions.El sitio Mariano Miró (departamento Chapaleufú, Provincia de La Pampa, Argentina) fue un pueblo de casi 500 habitantes fundado en 1901 y abandonado en 1911. Desde la perspectiva de la arqueología histórica, se propone reconstruir las historias tafonómicas del conjunto artefactual de superficie de este "Ghost town". Los procesos tafonómicos son analizados desde la escala del artefacto y su distribución espacial considerando múltiples variables (tamaño, alteración térmica, meteorización, topografía del terreno, pisoteo, actividades antrópicas y animales cavadores). Se utiliza sistema de información geográfica (SIG) para interrelacionar las diferentes variables de análisis y evaluar la incidencia de los distintos agentes tafonómicos en las características y distribución de los materiales. Esperamos poder comprender la dinámica de formación que afectó al sitio y generar expectativas para contextos tafonómicos similares de la región.Fil: Landa, Carlos Gilberto. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Pineau, Viginia. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Montanari, Emanuel Guillermo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Doval, Jimena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Arqueología; Argentin

Time-Varying Textures

Essentially all computer graphics rendering assumes that the reflectance and texture of surfaces is a static phenomenon. Yet, there is an abundance of materials in nature whose appearance varies dramatically with time, such as cracking paint, growing grass, or ripening banana skins. In this paper, we take a significant step towards addressing this problem, investigating a new class of time-varying textures. We make three contributions. First, we describe the carefully controlled acquisition of datasets of a variety of natural processes including the growth of grass, the accumulation of snow, and the oxidation of copper. Second, we show how to adapt quilting-based methods to time-varying texture synthesis, addressing the important challenges of maintaining temporal coherence, efficient synthesis on large time-varying datasets, and reducing visual artifacts specific to time-varying textures. Finally, we show how simple procedural techniques can be used to control the evolution of the results, such as allowing for a faster growth of grass in well lit (as opposed to shadowed) areas

Thermal alterations in experimentally-flaked stone tools from Olduvai Gorge and their relevance for identification of fire in the Early Stone Age

The use of fire represents a landmark development in the technological evolution of the genus Homo. However, the earliest use and control of fire is challenging to identify in the archaeological record. Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania presents some of the best preservation and volume of sites in the Oldowan and Acheulean, but has not yet shown any clear indication of the presence of fire in lower or middle Pleistocene deposits. Through the use of visual observation and optical and scanning electron microscopy, this study identified signature features of thermal alteration in experimental stone tools of quartzite, lava and chert collected from Olduvai Gorge to establish how fire-modified rocks may potentially be identified in the archaeological record using a non-destructive methodology that can be replicated in future research

THE EARLY PHRYGIAN GATE AT GORDION, TURKEY: AN INVESTIGATION OF DRY STONE MASONRY IN SEISMIC REGIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STABILIZATION

The archaeological site at Gordion, Turkey is located in a region of high seismic activity, which threatens the standing masonry structures—particularly the dry laid limestone walls—of the ancient Phrygian capital. First excavated in the 1950s, the citadel gate is composed of an ashlar limestone veneer encasing a rubble core. Although the gate has been the focus of several conservation efforts, the unreinforced masonry structure requires study and possible stabilization to mitigate and prevent further bulging or even collapse. The gate’s current conditions include extensive cracking, spalls, split faces, missing chinking stones, open joints and bulges, which partially result from the complex history of the site. Constructed around 900 BC, the Early Phrygian Gate only briefly served as the main entryway to the citadel; it was then affected by fire and burial and used as a foundational support for later structures. Partial excavation has largely exposed the North and South Courts of the gate complex. However, several courses of the later building stone remain in localized areas of the gate walls, and the interior of South Court still contains the almost 3,000 year old clay construction fill. These factors have contributed to displacement of the multiple leaf system by exerting lateral force and causing compression and shear cracks. This thesis synthesizes existing knowledge of the behavior of masonry during seismic events, properties of dry stone structures and site-specific characteristics as a basis for constructing recommendations for future monitoring and stabilization efforts

Fifth International Conference on SALT WEATHERING OF BUILDINGS AND STONE SCULPTURES:

These proceedings report on the 5th edition of the conference, after Copenhagen (2008), Cyprus (2011), Brussel (2014) and Potsdam (2017), and it is the first time the conference is held in hybrid form, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a challenge to organize an event in such an uncertain situation and to make it as attractive and interactive as the previous editions. We hope to meet your expectations! I’m very glad, that despite the situation, the interest for the conference is strong: we have received more than 40 contributions from 18 countries from all over the world. This confirms the relevance of the problem of salt weathering for the built cultural heritage and stone artifacts in a wide range of environments. Moreover, the broad spectrum of approaches to the subject presented in these proceedings highlights the importance of the interaction between different disciplines as well as between fundamental research and practice of conservation. I wish this conference to contribute to this fruitful exchange, and to generate new research ideas, whilst strengthening and broadening interdisciplinary collaborations. On behalf of the organizing committee, I’m looking forward to welcoming as many as possible of you in Delft. We hope that, next to participation to the conference, you will find some free time to visit the city. You can stroll along the canals, enter a windmill, visit the Prinsenhof museum and the Blue Delft Factory, admire the architecture and sculptures in the Old and New Church and, if you are looking for a real Dutch experience, you can rent a bicycle and visit the surroundings! This event would not have been possible without the collaboration of several persons. I would like to thank, on behalf of us all, the Scientific Committee for carefully reviewing the papers and contributing thereby to the high quality of the published contributions. My personal thank goes to the organizing committee who significantly contributed to the organization of this event and to the preparation of the proceedings. Last but not least, I’d like to thank the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands for co-sponsoring the event and RILEM (International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures) for contributing to the dissemination

Rock Art Management and Landscape Change: Mixed Field Assessment Techniques for Cultural Stone Decay

As tourism continues to grow as one of the world’s most ubiquitous markets, the development and promotion of non-invasive techniques for cultural stone decay analysis and landscape change are vital to establishing conditional base-lines to best aid cultural heritage management (CRM) efficacy. Using rock art as a medium, this dissertation presents three independent case studies employing the Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) and repeat photography to explore the merits of mixed rapid field assessment techniques in relation to CRM and heritage tourism. While rock art is only one example of irreplaceable world heritage resources, examining how they decay and what methods can effectively quantify their change provides valuable data leading to a better understanding of human/environment interaction within the context of tourism and cultural resource management. The first case study examines the applicability of combining the two methods on rock art in the Arkansan Ozark region, showing considerable promise. The second addresses the temporal flexibility of the mixed methods on rapidly changing, and highly impacted, rock art sites on Grenada, West Indies, demonstrating the method pairing’s tremendous monitoring and emergency response potential. The third case study explores adapting RASI to analyze other forms of cultural stone by employing the mixed methods on selected hewn monuments in Petra, Jordan, aptly identifying a critical disparity between appearance and stability. Ultimately, each case study exemplifies different aspects of cultural stone decay and modern challenges: from initial preliminary evaluations to assessing the impact of uninformed conservation efforts, and examining the influences of mass tourism and human interaction at heritage sites. Mixed field techniques effectively highlighted both the need for and benefits of employing such methods for rock art management, cultural stone stability, and global heritage management