Characterization of Maltese pottery of the Late Neolithic, Bronze Age and Punic Period by neutron activation analysis

A set of 41 samples from Tas-Silg, Malta, has been analysed by neutron activation. It contained nine ware groups formed by visual examination covering the Late Neolithic, Bronze Age and Punic Periods (c. 3000–218 BC). Despite this diversity and long time range, seven of these ware groups, including the ‘Thermi Ware’, all have a similar chemical composition and, therefore, have been made from the same clay. This points most probably to a local origin. One group from the Punic Period, containing only Bricky Red cooking ware, is chemically separate and represents a second distinct pattern probably assignable to a local production. Five amphora sherds also from the Punic Period, and consisting of a micaceous fabric, all have different chemical characteristics and are probably imports from overseas production sites of unknown location.peer-reviewe

Report on the excavation of a Punic tomb

On 19th November 2001, while two of us (DB, NJC) were preparing a drawn record of the Punic tomb that is situated on Bajda Ridge, Xemxija, a small ceramic bowl (100211) was uncovered from below a few centimetres of soil that covered the inner part of the threshold to the rock-cut chamber (Fig. 1). An official from the Museums Department was informed of the discovery on the same day and a site inspection was carried out. It was realised that more artefacts could lie undisturbed within the chamber and a decision was taken to excavate the deposit. Authorisation for the Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, to undertake the excavation was received from the Director, Museums Department, and the excavation was completed on the 22nd November. The tomb is located on the ridge, near a path that diverges eastwards from the track that links Pwales valley to the Mistra valley. It is cut in the Upper Coralline limestone that outcrops in the area on a North-South axis and consists of a sub-rectangular chamber that is reached through a low entrance at the bottom of a rectangular shaft (Fig. 1). The tomb appears in an inventory for the first time in 1996 when it was listed in the survey of archaeological sites prepared by Malta University Services for the Planning Authority by Anthony Bonanno in connection with the preparation of the North-West local plan for Malta. The tomb had been examined and photographed by one of us (NCV) in 1992. At the time, it was littered with debris and it was only with difficulty that a view of the chamber could be achieved through the entrance that was partly concealed by an irregular blocking stone. Late in 2000, members of the St Paul's Bay Heritage Group lifted the debris from the trench and cleared the area around the site.peer-reviewe

Ten millennia of hepatitis B virus evolution

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been infecting humans for millennia and remains a global health problem, but its past diversity and dispersal routes are largely unknown. We generated HBV genomic data from 137 Eurasians and Native Americans dated between ~10,500 and ~400 years ago. We date the most recent common ancestor of all HBV lineages to between ~20,000 and 12,000 years ago, with the virus present in European and South American hunter-gatherers during the early Holocene. After the European Neolithic transition, Mesolithic HBV strains were replaced by a lineage likely disseminated by early farmers that prevailed throughout western Eurasia for ~4000 years, declining around the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. The only remnant of this prehistoric HBV diversity is the rare genotype G, which appears to have reemerged during the HIV pandemic

Archaeology at the North-East Anatolian Frontier, I: an historical geography and a field survey of the Bayburt plain.

A1 - Authored Research Book

The upper levels at Sos Höyük, Erzurum : A reinterpretation of the 1987 campaign

Sagona Antonio, Sagona Claudia. The upper levels at Sos Höyük, Erzurum : A reinterpretation of the 1987 campaign. In: Anatolia Antiqua, Tome 11, 2003. pp. 101-109

Archaeological Investigations at Chobareti in southern Georgia, the Caucasus

International audienceOnce a restricted military zone, the Akhaltsikhe-Aspindza region within the Samtskhe-Javakheti province of Georgia is now the focus of archaeological investigations. This paper brings together the main data from three years of fieldwork at the ancient site of Chobareti, situated at 1610 metres above sea level, which has so far revealed a Kura-Araxes settlement and burials, and a late Antique/Medieval stronghold

Relations between lowland and mountain environments by agro-pastoral societies in the South Caucasus from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age

International audienceMountainous territories represent a large part of the region both in the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountains ranges. Although in the Neolithic period settlements in the highland areas are not numerous in South Caucasus, they increase during the Chalcolithic period until the establishment of villages at the beginning of the Bronze Age. Through an integrated bioarchaeological approach on lowlands, piedmonts and highland sites in Azerbaijan and Georgia, we investigate the pastoral practices of these first agropastoral societies. Were there interactions between the plains and the mountains between the Neolithic and the early Bronze Age? At what season(s) were the sites occupied by the herders? To answer these questions, the first author combines classical archaeozoology to characterize the subsistence economies of the targeted sites with biochemistry and cementochronology. Caprine and bovine teeth cementum will determine the seasons of death and consequently the seasons of occupation of the sites. Dental enamel is also used to produce isotopic ratios of oxygen and carbon (δ18O, δ13C) as well as strontium (87Sr/86Sr), for informing on the season of birth, the type of diet including the practice of foddering and finally the mode of territorial occupation through pastoral mobility