Prehistoric Archaeology

es un sitio arqueológico de carácter multicomponente cuya secuencia abarca desde el Holoceno inicial hasta tiempos históricos. Tiene, asimismo, grabados rupestres de diferentes épocas y estilos. Los trabajos de campo iniciales se hicieron entre 1987 y 1992 como parte de un rescate arqueológico. A partir de 2006, la zona fue incorporada a un proyecto binacional, por convenio entre las universidades de Buenos Aires (Argentina) y de Cantabria (España). En este trabajo presentamos los grabados más antiguos, realizados sobre el piso de roca, que fueron sellados por un fogón datado por 14 C hacia 10.000 BP. Asimismo, damos a conocer las últimas tareas realizadas en el marco del citado proyecto, las que, teniendo en cuenta las alteraciones que este sitio ha sufrido recientemente, han apuntado a la obtención de un registro exhaustivo, mediante el uso de los medios tecnológicos actualmente disponibles. En ese sentido, se ha realizado el relevamiento topográfico del cerro testigo donde se encuentra el sitio y la toma de fotografías digitales de los grabados para su posterior procesado estereométrico.

The archaeology of the prehistoric period in the Kurdistan region of western Iran remains poorly understood. Among the understudied prehistoric periods in this region, the Bronze Age—particularly the Middle and Late Bronze Age—has received little archaeological attention. Geographically, Kurdistan lies between two major archaeological research zones: the Urmia Lake basin to the north and central Zagros to the south. During the Middle and Late Bronze Age, the Urmia Lake basin was dominated by cultures such as Khabur or Urmia Ware, while the central Zagros region, south of Kurdistan, was influenced by distinct traditions, including Godin III. In other words, the northern and southern areas of Kurdistan were shaped by two different cultural traditions during this period. However, the cultural landscape of Bronze Age Kurdistan itself remains unclear. A recent archaeological survey in the Qorveh Plain, eastern Kurdistan, identified painted Godin III pottery on the surface of Tepe Dinar in Vey Nesar. This discovery marks a significant extension of the Godin III cultural zone beyond its core in central Zagros, indicating that its influence was not confined to that region but extended further into western Iran. The widespread distribution of Godin III traditions, from Khuzestan in the south to Kurdistan in the north, suggests broader cultural interactions than previously recognized. Furthermore, these findings highlight that the scarcity of Middle and Late Bronze Age sites identified in Kurdistan to date is likely due to the application of inappropriate archaeological survey methods. Given its geographical position, the Kurdistan region likely had a comparable potential for the development of Middle and Late Bronze Age settlements as central Zagros and the Urmia Lake basin.

Աստղերի բարեշրջության (evolutio) մոդելների եւ կենսոլորտի բարեշրջության որոշ հարաբանությունները (analogia) տեղ են թողնում ենթադրելու, որ հնարավոր է գտնել կենսաբանական տեսակների հատկությունների պարբերական փոփոխման օրինաչափություն։ Նման օրինաչափության բացահայտումը հնարավորություն կտար օգտվելու աստղագիտության՝ մաթեմատիկորեն անհամեմատ լավ մշակված եղանակներից, խթանելով կենսաբանության զարգացումը։

El Puerto Bajo de Goriz forma parte de las extensas superficies de pastizal del Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido. El actual paisaje vegetal de la zona no es estrictamente natural, sino consecuencia tambien de la actividad antropica. Su explotacion ganadera a lo largo de miles de anos ha contribuido a ampliar la superficie de los pastos, que han descendido hasta cotas que corresponderian a la expansion del bosque. En 2014 dio comienzo un plan de prospecciones al amparo de un proyecto del Organismo de Parques Nacionales para comprobar en que momento comenzo el impacto humano en ese territorio y si podia remontarse, al igual que en otras zonas pirenaicas y prepirenaicas, a tiempos prehistoricos, rebasando los contrastados datos medievales. Con esa finalidad se han desarrollado tres campanas de prospeccion intensiva, excavaciones y sondeos en un territorio de unas 400 hectareas situado en la zona sureste del Parque. Se han documentado 59 puntos de interes arqueologico que inclu...

Within Iran, there is little archaeological evidence for relationships between newly arrived Early Trans-Caucasian (ETC) or Kura-Araxes settlers and earlier inhabitants and contact with neighbouring cultures, or for their apparently abrupt end. Based on the evidence, the Iranian Kura-Araxes was not a simple 'copy' of the Caucasian Kura-Araxes package. Ceramic traditions show local peculiarities, and all are elements suggesting that the Kura-Araxes traditions went through processes of adaptation, change and re-elaboration according to local tastes and technologies. In this study, an archaeometric approach to ceramics in the Kolyaei Plain of central Zagros contributes to the discussion of contact and exchange between indigenous communities and several cultural spheres of influence on the Early Bronze Age (beginning in the fourth millennium BCE). Morphological data, as well as the mineralogical and chemical composition of ceramics, were applied to determine the major and trace elements of the pottery shards. Based on the trace element profiles, it can be suggested that all the pottery shards are in the same group and they strongly are local products. The ceramic provenance indicates the same patterns of material interactions during the ETC or Kura-Araxes in all the sites within the Kolyaei Plain.

The article presents a spearhead found in the town of Krackow in the Lubusz group. The reason for taking up this topic is a card from Martin Jahn’s archive devoted to the monument (Fig. 1). The paper discusses preserved archival sources and mentions of the monument in the literature on the subject, as well as its contemporary documentation (Fig. 2) - it is currently in the collection of the Landesamt für Kultur und Denkmalpflege Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The spearhead should be classified as similar to type II.2 according to Piotr Kaczanowski, and it is a form typical of the Przeworsk culture, but also of the Lubusz group (analogies - Fig. 3). Its decoration - a stitch ornament of variant 1a according to Bartosz Kontny - is nothing exceptional in the Lubusz group. Analogous solutions are widespread in the Central European Barbaricum, especially in the Przeworsk culture (excluding its eastern zone), but also in the Lubusz group (Fig. 2). On this occasion, the author makes a correction to his article from 2008, devoted to spearheads decorated with a stitched pattern. Within variants 1 and 2, subvariants have been distinguished: “a” (with densely distributed punch impressions) and “b” (with sparsely distributed piston impressions, most often arranged in three lines on each side of the rib). Additionally, the map of the distribution of the mentioned spearheads has been supplemented and corrected (fig. 4). The surviving documentation indicates that the artefact was found in the immediate vicinity of Rędowa: in its floodplains, possibly in a meander lake (riverside, oxbow lake) or on a marshy flood terrace. Therefore, it is most likely another water sacrificial site south of the Baltic Sea; river sites predominate in the group of such sites in the Lubusz group (fig. 5).

M295, M439, M440, M441AB, M1393, M1394, M1395AB, M2015AB, M2016
cāli 'Interlocking bodies' (IL 3872) Rebus: sal 'workshop' (Santali) Hieroglyph of joined, interlocked bodies: cāli (IL 3872); rebus: śālika (IL) village of artisans
Six bodies intertwined. bhaṭa 'six' rebus: bhaṭa 'furnace’).
Three tigers: kolmo ‘three’ rebus: kolimi ‘smithy, forge’

Remarkable and intriguing is the discovery of Desman remains in Sed'yu-1 (Komi Republic, Russia) in the far northeast of Europe; finds that are dated to the Bølling Interstadial. Mammalian communities including desman are dominated by the Siberian lemming. A review of Lateglacial desman finds in Europe and the Urals as well as the contemporaneous mammalian communities in northeastern European are presented and the possible migration ways desmans used during the Lateglacial expansion are discussed.

Twelve new AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) dates of large Quaternary mammal remains were reported: mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), bison (Bison priscus), and musk ox (Ovibos pallantis) found in the Archangelsk Region. The absolute age of the identified samples varies from 46 000 to 22 000 cal ibrated years ago. These data suggest that a substantial part of the Archangelsk Region was not covered by ice during the indicated time interval.

Fil: Vagni, Juan Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Cultura y Sociedad. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Cultura y Sociedad; Argentina

This work finds the written history of the Tamang language is more than one thousand years long. Tamang is one of the written languages of Nepal. One Tamang cultural handwritten book titled 'Gyalpo Pechya' was found in Nuwakot Dupcheswor Remote Municipality by authors in Ume Tamang Tamyig script. Tamang is the fifth largest population's language in Nepal.

The FAI-270 Project represents one of the most extensive Cultural Resource Management (CRM) undertakings in North America, resulting in the publication of dozens of site reports and, in 1984, a benchmark synthetic volume that presented a new chronology and culture history of the American Bottom region of the Mississipppi River (Bareis and Porter, eds. 1984). This sequence was based on material assemblages and radiocarbon dates from extensive excava- tions. The ongoing FAI-270 Project continues to invigorate local and regional research, transforming the American Bottom sequence into one of the most detailed Eastern Woodlands chronologies available. Since the Bareis and Porter (eds. 1984) volume, the quantity of archaeological data and available published reports have increased exponen- tially, with ten new phases identified. Our understanding of both diachronic and synchronic cultural relationships have undergone major transformations. In general we find that the earlier neoevolutionary model no longer ‘‘explains’’ the archaeological evidence. This article presents a newly revised calibrated sequence using some 300 radiocarbon dates from over 100 sites and examines significant changes in the chronological sequence. We present a new perspective on American Bottom cultural historical development that stresses cultural discontinuities, historical contingencies, local abandonment, population movement, and social and political continuities and disruptions.

During the detailed documentation of a legacy assemblage from the Kane Mound site, a unique Early Woodland burial was recognized amid an otherwise Late Mississippian burial complex. This discovery foregrounded considerations of the nature of mortuary practices during the Terminal Late Archaic–Early Woodland era. The Early Woodland burial of a young man included a polished hematite cone and an engraved pebble depicting a possible spirit creature—unusual items suggesting functions of healing and divination. When viewed in a broader context of Terminal Late Archaic–Early Woodland lifestyles, it can be proposed that the related mortuary practices of these groups reflect broader as- pects of their sociopolitical organization. Terminal Late Archaic groups, with their large macroband aggregations, created bounded multiperson cemeteries. In contrast, the small family groups who were dispersed widely across the landscape during the Early Woodland era practiced a noncentralized pattern of interment.

Twenty-nine Early Bronze Age barrow graves from North-West Bulgaria are discussed in the paper. Presented are the essential characteristics of the mortuary practices – barrow fills, grave pits, method of disposal, grave inventory and use of red pigments. A significant enrichment of knowledge about the barrow burial rite in northwestern Bulgaria are the results of rescue excavations conducted in 2023-2024 near villages Butan, Kriva bara and Manastirishte (all in Kozloduy region). Twelve radiocarbon dates were obtained for graves from these barrows. They date to around 2900-2600 cal BC, apart from one cremation burial dated around 2500 cal. BC. The earliest graves from Tarnava, ‘Glavchovska mogila’ (related to the Coţofeni culture), Knezha (early Yamna phase), and Tarnak (‘relaxed hocker’, possibly dated to Pre-Yamna stage) are most likely of older age (approx. 3100-2900 cal BC). Then, the general chronological position of the graves from barrows in northwestern Bulgaria is set in ca. 3100 – 2500 cal BC. The chronological sequence of the burial mounds, as well as their cultural diversity, find close parallels in discoveries from neighbouring regions, including Oltenia, the Romanian Banat, Transylvania and Vojvodina.

A new picture of the Late Bronze Age of the Ulanci group has been obtained through
the excavations of the cemeteries Dimov Grob v. Ulanci-Gradsko, Vodovratski Pat v. Vodovrati-
Gradsko, Mali Dol v. Tremnik-Negotino and Manastir – Chashka-Veles. These excavations provided
a wealth of archaeological material, which in turn allowed for initial more detailed studies
of the development, distribution and function of individual groups of archaeological objects. Here
we will focus on the large number of newly discovered pins, which represent an important corpus
of finds, and which were mostly discovered at the Dimov Grob cemetery in closed archaeological
complexes-graves. So far, over forty pins have been discovered, the main feature of most of
them is that they are part of a large group of pins with a perforated neck. All discovered pins are
dated to the Late Bronze Age, and as forms are widely distributed in Central Europe. But there
are variants of pins which, despite being typically Central European, no longer have their classical
characteristics and form their own local features. It is also important to emphasize that the pins of
the Ulanci group represent a border zone, since they correspond to the southernmost borderline of
the distribution of the corresponding pin types of northern origin, and temporally correspond to
the last phase of their use further north.

This paper represents an attempt to reconstruct the social structure of the Late Bronze Age society of the Ulanci
cultural group. During the ten-year research of the cemetery at the archaeological site of Dimov Grob, a total
number of 135 graves were discovered. This is the final number of burials at the cemetery, which provides a
unique opportunity to examine a fully explored prehistoric cemetery. The systematic approach in the excavations
made it possible to obtain evidence on the burial method, burial customs, the role of the archaeological
object in the burial custom, and initial evidence for the social structure of the Late Bronze Age society. The characteristics
of the cemetery Dimov Grob, such as the organization of graves in rows with identical orientation,
the standardization of the burial type through the dominant use of the cist grave and the clearly defined burial
customs, create an image of egalitarianism and homogenization. On the other hand, in the “idealizing” world of
the cemetery, these characteristics showed the social structuring of the individual towards the community, with
a symbolic emphasis of the collective identity and cohesion of the community. However, during a deeper analysis
of the discovered burials at the cemetery, differences that reflect the social organization of society in everyday
life are noticed, pointing towards more complex social situations. Gender and age identities are distinguished,
which reflect certain interpersonal antagonisms in the social structure within the community. How these antagonisms
were resolved is still unknown. Still, it can be assumed that the traditional values of the society were the
connective tissue that held the society and in which those antagonisms remained muted, hidden, and put in the
background. According to the burial finds of the cemetery, a small specialized social group can be distinguished,
probably composed of individuals and not of family members. This group consists of the three female burials in
graves 54, 73, and 80, which at the same time are the richest burials in the cemetery. They may represent a traditional
religious-civilian group of leaders who maintained the nurturing of traditional social values with applied
rules and did not allow inequalities to escalate in the community. Their civil and ritual power restrained excessive
ambition that would lead to the formation of power structures concentrated in one group, family, or individual.
Thus, the conclusion can be drawn that the Late Bronze Age society of the Ulanci cultural group does not contain
complex forms of social organization. The absence of power is a consequence of the non-differentiation of the
economic organization of the community, whereby the role of women is emphasized in the religious life and the
civil sphere as a leader, where the nurturing of traditional values in society and the welfare of the community are
the main premises.

Resumen El artículo analiza la evolución del poblamiento ibérico en la cuenca del río Guadiel entre los siglos VI y I a.C. A través de un enfoque diacrónico, se estudian las transformaciones sociales, económicas y territoriales que definieron este proceso histórico. Se destacan aspectos como la organización del espacio, la interacción entre comunidades locales y la influencia de factores externos, como el impacto entre estas y los imperios mediterráneos, especialmente el romano. El trabajo combina análisis arqueológicos y fuentes históricas para reconstruir dinámicas de asentamiento, patrones de ocupación y cambios en el paisaje cultural, ofreciendo una visión integral de la región y su relevancia dentro del contexto ibérico.

In the article the questions of actuality of anthropometric researches of womanish population of Georgia are considered with the purpose of clothes constructing. The results of measuring of women’s figures in age 18-60 years are presented. The changes of sizes of leading size signs and indexes of women’s figures of different age-dependent groups are rotined as compared to operating presently standards. Research results rotined the necessity of development of new industry standards for planning of clothes.В статье рассмотрены вопросы актуальности антропометрических исследований женского населения Грузии с целью конструирования одежды. Представлены результаты измерения фигур женщин в возрасте 18-60 лет. Показаны изменения величин ведущих размерных признаков и полнотных показателей фигур женщин различных возрастных групп по сравнению с действующими в настоящее время стандартами. Результаты исследования показали необходимость разработки новых отраслевых стандартов для проектирования оде...

This paper reports on the results of the work of the Palaeo team of the DMP in January 2010. The fieldwork was focused on two different areas – the Wadi ash-Shati and the southwestern margin of the Ubari Sand Sea. Work in the Wadi ash-Shati confirmed the existence of Oldowan sites in Fazzan (locality SHT11 and environs), which although undated, represent a major addition to the extent of prehistoric occupation of the area. Further work near the site originally studied by Petit-Maire in the 1980s confirmed the association of a shell layer dated to the last interglacial with archaeological artefactsin situ. These artefacts are of MSA affinity, thus placing Fazzan in the context of other northern African sites of that time. The work in the southwestern margin of the basin represented the first formal archaeological survey of that area. This revealed extensive Holocene and MSA occupations, and in a group of sites at the southern edge of the Hamada Zaqher, also Oldowan lithics. Little if...

This article evaluates the current state of paleoethnobotany since Hastorf's 1999 review published in this journal. We discuss advances in methods, ancient subsistence reconstructions, the origins and intensification of agriculture, and how plants inform on issues of political economy and identity. Significant methodological developments in the extraction, identification, and analysis of starch grains and phytoliths have led to advancements in our knowledge of early plant domestication and the transition to food production. Paleoethnobotanists increasingly are using more complex quantitative techniques to characterize their data, which have resulted in more nuanced interpretations of plants that fall within the purview of social archaeology and allow us to address issues related to gender, identity, and ritual practice.

The Rongorongo script of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) has remained undeciphered for over a century, with prior theories misidentifying it as a mnemonic system, proto-writing, or logographic script. This study presents the first complete phonetic decipherment, proving that Rongorongo is a fully structured Polynesian writing system that follows a syllabic phonetic model. By applying a systematic phonetic reconstruction, corpus-wide analysis, and statistical validation, this study deciphers all 26 known Rongorongo inscriptions (~15,000 glyphs), revealing a linguistic system encoding Polynesian mythology, navigational records, and ritual knowledge.

Deciphering Rongorongo: A Polynesian Syllabary Encoding Mythology, Navigation, and Ritual Knowledge © 2025 by Erik Kiley is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Marks and figurative representations have been recognized as crucial socio-cognitive components that contributed to the transition from foraging to farming of the Neolithic in southwest Asia, during a period in which communities adopted novel social interactions and economic strategies. This article investigates image production and the trajectories tied to the creation of visual codes. We show that since the early Neolithic phases (c. 9700-6600 cal. BC) societies in southwest Asia engaged with specific symbols and created narrative and operational semasiographies, intended to serve as key communicative devices that functioned as community ties and contributed to social interaction across distant groups.

1 At the time, both Ognjen Mladenović and Petar Milojević were enrolled in PhD Studies at the University of Belgrade -Faculty of Philosophy, and mentored by Dr. Marija Ljuština, also a team member. 2 At the time Dr. Bogdana Milić was affiliated to the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Vienna. Pottery sampling, Museum of Mining and Metallurgy in Bor.

The terms urban and urbanism are commonly synonymous with concepts of social complexity, sophistication and the paradigm of civilisation in prehistoric archaeology. Those terms provide a link that enables societies sharing such features to be considered in comparative perspective. However, this equation risks marginalising societies lacking urban features but possessing complexity from discussion on social change in large spatial and temporal perspectives. Bronze Age Europe is a case in point, where complexity that has been recognised was commonly evaluated through the lens of influence from urban areas around the Mediterranean despite the weak evidential match. Evidence for other, less centralised and less hierarchical modes of complexity, is abundant in regional literature though over-arching frameworks that enable that rich and varied record to be mobilised in comparative perspective are less commonly encountered. To address this, the paper takes a lead from recent work on Iron Age settlement archaeology. It dispenses with the term “proto-urban” and explores the utility of the term agro-agglomerate to characterise organisationally complex settlement systems in Bronze Age temperate Europe. This is pursued through the settlement archaeology of the northern Balkans / south Carpathian Basin during the late third to end of the second millennium BC. Promoting a comparative approach that includes urban frameworks, these settlements are considered in the context of contemporary Aegean societies. It is argued the Bronze Age societies of the Pannonian Plain present an important case for a form of complexity that was long-lived, resilient and widely influential within temperate Europe.

Chariots drawn by horses harnessed in pairs under a yoke appeared in China, without apparent local antecedants, in burials of the late Shang dynasty (ca. 1200–1045 BCE). The system of paired draught and their characteristic design – two large, multi-spoked wheels set on a long axle placed centrally under the wide body – remained virtually unchanged for nearly a thousand years. By the time of Emperor Qin Shihuang (ruled 221–210 BCE), covered travelling vehicles in which the passenger could sit or recline had been developed. The two superb bronze models from his tomb have enabled a study of the details of their construction and harnessing. Under the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE), an innovative type of vehicle emerged – the prestigious, lightweight carriage for swift personal transport drawn by a single horse between shafts, harnessed with a breast strap. Like the chariots, they were driven from the box; the occupants knelt or reclined rather than standing. Though the use of breast traction continued to be the traditional form of harnessing horses, mules and donkeys in China, the fast carriages in their turn went out of fashion after the end of the Eastern Han period (24–220 CE), to be replaced by stately, slower-moving vehicle with a single draught animal between the shafts, controlled by an attendant on foot.

The construction of grand narratives in Balkan archaeology has been shaped in subtle yet profound ways by geopolitical agendas. This paper examines the impacts of imperialist, colonialist, and nationalist archaeology, using Bruce Trigger's foundational framework, with a particular focus on the Greek region of Macedonia. Archaeology in this region began to formalize in the first half of the 20 th century, becoming a tool of colonial influence that reflected the cultural imperialism of the powers that prevailed after World War I. Following World War II, a distinctly nationalist archaeology arose -not as a direct response to previous colonial activities or external threats, but as a reflection of internal social tensions that surfaced after the Greek Civil War. These tensions were framed within patriotic archaeological narratives, a practice that persists today, albeit with declining effectiveness as the cultural and social landscape of regional archaeology has changed.

Statistical analysis using multistate qualitative variables 239 © 2 0 0 4 -A l l ' I n s e g n a d e l G i g l i o s . a . s . -w w w . e d i g i g l i o . i t Archeologia e Calcolatori 15, 2004, 239-255 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USING MULTISTATE QUALITATIVE VARIABLES APPLIED TO THE HUMAN DENTAL MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS IN THE BRONZE AGE (GRANADA, SPAIN, 1300-1500 B.C.) © 2 0 0 4 -A l l ' I n s e g n a d e l G i g l i o s . a . s . -w w w . e d i g i g l i o . i t

Excavations on the south-eastern slopes of King Barrow Ridge, 1.5 km east of Stonehenge, revealed five pits, a grave and other features of Middle Neolithic date. Analysis of the pit assemblages and the partial inhumation interred in the grave has provided insights into lifeways in this landscape in the late fourth millennium cal BC. Evidence suggests that the area was visited by a pastoralist, mobile community on a semi-regular basis for a significant period, in late autumn or winter. Selected remnants of craft-working and consumption were deposited in pits, before deliberate infilling. These depositions repeatedly memorialised activity on the hillside at a time of contemporary activity elsewhere on King Barrow Ridge and at the future site of Stonehenge. Middle Neolithic pits are present in significant numbers across King Barrow Ridge, and alongside pits in the Durrington area, form one of the densest concentrations of such activity in the region. Long distance mobility is suggested by the possible Irish origins of the inhumation, the first Middle Neolithic individual excavated in the environs of Stonehenge. Whilst of significance for understanding the Middle Neolithic in the WHS and the region, this research also hints at the roots of Late Neolithic monumentalisation of this landscape.

Blindheit ist ein Paradox der Wahrnehmung. Kulturgeschichtlich wird sie nicht nur als Einschränkung, sondern auch als Erweiterung und Umdeutung des Sehens gedeutet, als Ausdruck einer ‚tieferen‘ Wahrheit oder Erkenntnis, die über das bloße Sehen hinausgeht. Diese Perspektive eröffnet einen kritischen Diskurs über den Stellenwert der visuellen Wahrnehmung im Vergleich zu anderen Sinneseindrücken und hinterfragt die Dominanz des Visuellen in der westlichen Kultur.
Der Vortrag widmet sich Darstellungen von Blindheit in der Kunst und fragt nach damit verbundenen Zuschreibungen und Stereotypen. Er bezieht Ansätze der Critical Blindness Studies in seine Überlegungen
mit ein und möchte dafür sensibilisieren, dass Interpretationen von Blindheit auf soziale Praktiken antworten und umgekehrt. Blindheit ist als Symbol und Denkfigur in die Medialitäten, ästhetischen Diskurse und sozialen Strukturen ihrer Zeit eingebunden und wird demnach immer wieder neu produziert. Neben mythischen Blinden wie Samson, Teiresias und Ödipus sollen auch feministische Positionen diskutiert werden, die über das Motiv der Blindheit patriarchale und sexistische Geschlechterverhältnisse sichtbar machen und emanzipatorisch umdeuten.

Part 1: A Globalised Bronze Age -theoretical reflections on the concept of bronzization Chapter 1: Written in blood? An exploration of the possibility of European Identity in the Bronze Age through examination of political habitus, origin myth, material culture, economics, mobility, aDNA, and linguistics ..

Children represented a social group that is unique in many ways. The first
part of life is both a universal period for all human communities and,
at the same time, a very culturally specific construct, individual for each
society. At present, the question of whether archaeology can or should study
“childhood” in ancient times is no longer on the scientific agenda. Having
emerged in the late 1980s, the archaeology of childhood has firmly taken its
place within the social direction of archaeological science. The article discusses
approaches and methods of analyzing the “world of children” based
on archaeological data, as well as the sources at our disposal. The studying
of literature and excavation materials demonstrates that modern archaeology
has a large corpus of sources on this issue — from numerous burials to artefacts
at the settlements; theoretical approaches have been mainly developed
over the past decades, and the methods continue to improve every day. Along
with the analysis of mass material, multidisciplinary methods are actively
used today, allowing insight into the lives of little individuals and their families.
Using various approaches and methods, archaeology tries to reconstruct
different aspects of children’s lives — growing up, socialization, development
of skills and leisure, participation in rituals and public life, as well as such personal
characteristics as nutrition, physical development, pathologies, diseases
and causes of death. Thus, in the 21st century, the archaeology of childhood
is gradually reaching a qualitatively new level of argumentation of its conclusions
and assumptions.

Mining archaeological field prospections and excavations conducted by the Research Center HiMAT at the University of Innsbruck yielded proof of extensive copper ore mining from the late Middle Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age (1300 - 700 BC) in the mining regions of Kitzbühel-Jochberg and Schwaz-Brixlegg in Northern Tyrol. This paper deals with stone tools collected at prehistoric mining sites and focusses on their typology, material properties and the problem of terminology. Petrographic analyses show a  conscious selection of special stone materials for different applications. Typically, hard and tough metamorphic rocks collected from river gravel banks or glacial deposits of alpine valleys were used as raw materials for tool production. In general, well-rounded pebbles and boulders of amphibolite, garnet-amphibolite and eclogite were the preferred rock type used for percussion tools. According to the  archaeological evidence, such stone tools were mostly used in the ore beneficia...

In early 2007 the special research program HiMAT -History of Mining Activities in Tyrol -was established at the University of Innsbruck. It is an interdisciplinary research project dedicated to the history of mining in Tyrol and adjacent areas, sponsored by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). At present, the Surveying and Geoinformation Unit of University of Innsbruck is completing the modelling from a three-dimensional close-range laser scan of spectacular wooden artefacts from a Late Bronze Age ore dressing installation. In this way, the fragile objects can be saved in digital form and interpreted before undergoing the lengthy preservation process. 3D-lasercanning is a non-contact and non-destructive way of acquiring geometric data of sensitive and complex objects. The high resolution of modern equipment allows an exact spatial documentation with a high resolution texture. Compared to conventional methods the speed and the reachable degree of detail is marked higher. A known problem arising during the handling and evaluation is caused by the gigantic data volume. This needs -besides a powerful hardware and a skilful software and operatorpreliminary considerations concerning the proper raster-width.The spatial models resulting from the measurement-and evaluation process can be used in different -and meanwhile often described -ways. An additional aspect arose during our pursuits with the wooden artefacts mentioned above. The findings had to be inserted into a special fluid for conservation purpose within 4 days. During the needed time span -more than a year -the findings cannot be investigated further by the archaeologists. So the virtual model can replace the fragile original which does not need to be touched further more. This method could also help to solve problems of archaeological scientists working in countries which forbid the export of archaeological artefacts. Having scanned the finds the further analysis could be done at home under more even circumstances. Finally, by an additional scanning after the conservation procedure the changes in geometry caused by the fluid can be pointed out.

In the Eastern Alps there is widespread evidence for a long tradition of metal ore mining and smelting (HöPPnEr et al., 2005). The first smelting activities or more probably a first “experimental phase” has been documented at the Mariahilfbergl in the Lower Inn Valley near Brixlegg in north Tyrol (BArTELHEIM et al., 2002). This neolithic phase is otherwise characterized by only little archaeometallurgical evidence however local Fe-Zn tetrahedrite-tennantite heating and possible smelting (?) could be shown. The second metallurgical phase during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age is characterized by a small-scale Fe-Zn tetrahedrite-tennantite based copper metallurgy. This metallurgy occurred outside the immediate ore districts in settlements. The Buchberg near Jenbach in Tyrol (MArTInEK, 1996; MArTInEK & SydoW, 2004), the Tischofer Höhle near Kufstein (HArB, 2002) and the Kiechlberg near Innsbruck (KrISMEr et al., 2010; TöCHTErLE et al., 2012; TöCHTErLE, 2015) are well-documented e...

Using morphological, stratigraphic, paleoecological and geoarcheological data, as well as radiocarbon datings, we reconstructed the evolution of the coastal plain of Mondragone, in the northern sector of the Campania Plain, during the last 40 kyr. The Late Pleistocene-Holocene morphodynamics of this coastland were mainly dictated by mutual interaction between tectonics, sea-level fluctuations, Quaternary volcanic eruptions, and subsidence. These processes also influenced the dynamics of prehistoric and proto-historic human populations. Actually, the discovery over the last 25 years of several archaeological sites referable to Upper Paleolithic-Early Iron Age as well as the recent finding of artifacts, fauna and, for the third time in Campania, of Neanderthal human remains in the Roccia San Sebastiano cave, demonstrates that the coastal plain of Mondragone had always hosted human settlements. This constant frequentation is confirmed by, both emerged and submerged, ruins of Roman age and Middle Ages, and the high level of urbanization of the modern town. The interpretation of four borehole stratigraphic sequences down to 22 m bgl, of microfossils analysis and sediment facies highlighted the succession of transition, from marine to freshwater, and continental paleoenvironments in this coastal plain. These wetlands developed in climatic conditions that varied from glacial (Würm) to postglacial phases. Some deposits are interpreted as marshy sediments accumulated in shallow, elongated ponds behind sandy beach or dunes, which existed almost up to the present. The reconstruction of landscape morphodynamic evolution shows that after the "super eruption" of the Campanian Ignimbrite (~39 kyr BP) the physiography abruptly changed. A wide gulf characterized by grey tuff cliffs and facing northwest formed, along the littoral between the Garigliano and the Volturno river mouths during the volcanic stasis of the Phlegrean Fields, which lasted about ten thousand years after the violent ignimbrite eruption. In this period, the presence of Neanderthal and of a settlement in the Roccia San Sebastiano cave, at the foot of Mt. Massico, is proven by the findings of an excavation. Later (~20 kyr BP -Holocene), subsidence and sea-level rise activated strong erosion processes due to the postglacial marine ingression, with a consequent rapid shoreline recession and the genesis of transition environments. Finally, according to the results of previous multidisciplinary research carried out on other Campania coastal plains, adjacent or not to the studied area, distinct generations of post-Campanian Ignimbrite -Holocene coastal lakes (lagoons, ponds) and waterlogged environments (marshes, quagmires) were recognized, slightly below and at the current sea-level.