Soil micromorphology at the Viking-Age ring-fortress of Borgring, Denmark: Analysis of samples from the East, North and South Gateways

This report presents the results of soil micromorphological analysis of samples from archaeological deposits uncovered by excavations at Viking-age site of Borgring, on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. The study of thin sections has identified different microstratigraphic units in the deposits sampled at the gatesways to the fortress. These suggests accumulation of (colluvial) material mixed with anthropic waste before both the rampart construction and the burning of the wooden gateway structure. The burnt horizon identified in thin section is indicative of rapid and in situ fire. At the top of the sequence, another deposit of (colluvial) material exhibits mini-mal anthropic signature. All in all, this deposit might be reflecting a low-energy, slow soil build-up associated with the presence of animals and people in this landscape after the ring fortress was abandoned

River history and settlement pattern in eastern Sardinia: integrative geoarchaeology in the Rio Posada basin

-

Urban Chronology at a Human Scale on the Coast of East Africa in the 1st Millennium a.d.

This paper presents a new high-resolution excavation sequence of a house at the 1st millennium a.d. site of Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar, with implications for a new and detailed understanding of the period between the 7th and 9th centuries a.d. on the East African coast. This is an important period associated with a broad and distinctive cultural tradition, often seen as a pre- or proto-urban phase. Household excavations at Unguja Ukuu revealed two occupation phases, spanning less than 40 years each. The results here thus present an unprecedented temporal resolution on the site, at the scale of human experience. Excavation and microstratigraphic analyses of multiple floor layers reveal decadal change in occupation at this house. Positioning this house into the broader settlement sequence, we argue for episodic settlement at the site of Unguja Ukuu and draw out detail on how we can explore change at this generational scale

Revealing the invisible dead: integrating bio-geoarchaeological approaches in an apparently "empty" Viking-Age equestrian burial

Conference 26 - 27 May 2022 Microarchaeology: making visible the invisible archaeological record through high-resolution integrated approaches Coordination: Marta Portillo (IMF-CSIC), Aroa García-Suárez (IMF-CSIC), Juan Francisco Gibaja (EEHAR-CSIC) & Antonio Pizzo (EEHAR-CSIC)In 2017, a team of archaeologists and specialists investigated the apparently empty and partly disturbed Viking-Age equestrian burial of Fregerslev II, Denmark. This did not only provide a once in a lifetime opportunity to excavate such an elite grave, now with much more modern techniques than during earlier excavations of similar graves, but also to develop a novel multi-scale and multi-method analysis of burial and post-burial processes. To overcome the limitations of poor preservation and the lack of a clear macrostratigraphic sequence, multi-proxy analyses of organic and inorganic materials were combined to study the burial and its spatial organization as well as post-depositional processes. Techniques applied includedsoil chemistry (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry - ICPMS, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer - pXRF), soil micromorphology, analysis of faecal lipid biomarkers and analysis of wood, botanical macroremains, phytoliths, pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs. This presentation will present the highlights of the results of the various analyses, showing the potential and relevance of integrating high-resolution approaches for the analysis of poorly preserved burial contexts

Climate-smart harvesting and storing of water : the legacy of dhaka pits at Great Zimbabwe

Understanding past water management is crucial to address contemporary human-environmental challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, where urban growth is impacting upon water availability and supply. This study integrates soil profiles, high-resolution topographic data, historical sources, and socioecological memory to reconstruct how the ancient urban society at Great Zimbabwe negotiated water security. New evidence shows for the first time that closed depressions known as dhaka pits were used by the inhabitants of Great Zimbabwe for water storage and harvesting for a long time, possibly since the emergence of settlement in the mid-second millennium CE. These pits were part of a landscape-scale water management system that exploited catchment hydrology and groundwater by means of artificial dhaka reservoirs, wells, and springs to secure water for subsistence, farming, ritual and ceremony services. This study highlights the need for precise dating of the construction and functioning period of this water management system at Great Zimbabwe. Understanding past water management in such a water-scarce region is important for reconstructing how the ancient Great Zimbabwe urban society negotiated water security, but also for understanding contemporary human-environmental challenges.South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and by Danish National Research Foundation Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet).https://www.elsevier.com/locate/anceneam2023Anthropology and Archaeolog

Aksum: Water and urbanization in northern Ethiopia

The region between modern northern Ethiopia and central Eritrea offers an example of the intricate links between water and urbanization. This history has received little scholarly attention, even though the region has long been recognized as a center of plant domestication (Harlan, 1971) and host of some of the earliest state societies in sub-Saharan Africa (Fattovich, 2008, 2010; Phillipson, 2012). The highlands of Tigray between northern Ethiopia and Eritrea (Figure 8.1) saw the emergence of complex societies from the second millennium BC (Phillipson, 2009, 2012; Fattovich, 2010), leading to the emergence of the kingdom of Aksum (50 BC–AD 700/800). The development of urbanism at Aksum was strongly influenced by its strategic geographical and topographic position, and the availability of water and land resources. The new kingdom thrived for a thousand years, engaging in long-distance trade and commerce, developing a written literature and coinage, and acting as a gateway for the introduction and spread of Christianity into Africa (Phillipson, 2012). Aksum’s position, together with its water and land resources, sustained local communities and, subsequently, their engagement in, and intermittent control over, regional and interregional trade. A somewhat independent subsistence system was already in place by the first millennium BC and survived the collapse of temporal power towards the late first millennium AD. These developments were followed by the southward expansion of the state in the late first–early second millennium AD. A new polity emerged further south in central Ethiopia (Zägwe Dynasty, c.AD 1137–1270), and was soon overtaken by the Solomonic Dynasty (AD 1270–1974) and the establishment of the Ethiopian Empire. By eliciting environmental, archaeological, and historical sources, this chapter discusses how the early societies of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea interacted with a highly diversified environment, and the types of strategies they have developed to manage water and land resources