Caroline R. Cartwright

A Howiesons Poort tradition of engraving ostrich eggshell containers dated to 60,000 years ago at Diepkloof Rock Shelter, South Africa

Ongoing debates about the emergence of modern human behavior, however defined, regularly incorporate observations from the later part of the southern African Middle Stone Age and emphasize the early appearance of artifacts thought to reflect symbolic practice. Here we report a large sample of 270 fragments of intentionally marked ostrich eggshell from the Howiesons Poort at Diepkloof Rock Shelter, Western Cape, South Africa. Dating from ≈60,000 years ago, these pieces attest to an engraving tradition that is the earliest reliable evidence of what is a widespread modern practice. These abstract linear depictions were made on functional items (eggshell containers), which were curated and involved in daily hunter-gatherer life. The standardized production of repetitive patterns, including a hatched band motif, suggests a system of symbolic representation in which collective identities and individual expressions are clearly communicated, suggesting social, cultural, and cognitive underpinnings that overlap with those of modern people.

An Independent Chronology for British Bronze Age Metalwork: The Results of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Programme

The paper presents and analyses 46 new radiocarbon measurements undertaken at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit with the aim of critically evaluating the existing chronology for Bronze Age metalwork. Samples chosen, from both old museum collections and more recent finds, were all organics in immediate physical contact with various types of bronze object; indeed the great majority were in direct functional association. Contextual integrity was further monitored by the identification of wood species and the estimation of growth stage, which was found consistently to be modest. The scientific procedures employed allowed the generation of dates with good precision and cross-referenced through control samples to the dendrochronological master curves.Although one of the first attempts in Europe to radiocarbon date Bronze Age metalwork systematically, the results have yielded a coherent picture which confirms the broad outline of the traditional sequence. However, calibration followed by statistical analys...

On the Antiquity of Cancer: Evidence for Metastatic Carcinoma in a Young Man from Ancient Nubia (c. 1200BC)

Cancer, one of the world’s leading causes of death today, remains almost absent relative to other pathological conditions, in the archaeological record, giving rise to the conclusion that the disease is mainly a product of modern living and increased longevity. This paper presents a male, young-adult individual from the archaeological site of Amara West in northern Sudan (c. 1200BC) displaying multiple, mainly osteolytic, lesions on the vertebrae, ribs, sternum, clavicles, scapulae, pelvis, and humeral and femoral heads. Following radiographic, microscopic and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) imaging of the lesions, and a consideration of differential diagnoses, a diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma secondary to an unknown soft tissue cancer is suggested. This represents the earliest complete example in the world of a human who suffered metastatic cancer to date. The study further draws its strength from modern analytical techniques applied to differential diagnoses and the fact that it is firmly rooted within a well-documented archaeological and historical context, thus providing new insights into the history and antiquity of the disease as well as its underlying causes and progression.

The principles, procedures and pitfalls in identifying archaeological and historical wood samples

BACKGROUND The science of wood anatomy has evolved in recent decades to add archaeological and historical wood to its repertoire of documenting and characterizing modern and fossil woods. The increasing use of online wood anatomy databases and atlases has fostered the adoption of an international consensus regarding terminology, largely through the work of the International Association of Wood Anatomists (IAWA). SCOPE AND CONCLUSIONS This review presents an overview for the general reader of the current state of principles and procedures involved in the study of the wood anatomy of archaeological and historical specimens, some of which may be preserved through charring, waterlogging, desiccation or mineral replacement. By means of selected case studies, the review evaluates to what extent varying preservation of wood anatomical characteristics limits the level of identification to taxon. It assesses the role played by increasingly accessible scanning electron microscopes and complex optical microscopes, and whether these, on the one hand, provide exceptional opportunities for high-quality imaging and analysis of difficult samples, but, on the other hand, might be misleading the novice into thinking that advanced technology can be a substitute for specialized botanical training in wood anatomy.

Anatomical changes to the wood of Mimosa ophthalmocentra and Mimosa tenuiflora when charred at different temperatures.

Wood retains most of its qualitative features when charred, but the dimensions and appearance of the cells change in various ways. Wood density, anatomical structure, moisture content, duration and temperature all influence wood behaviour when charred. This paper explores the qualitative changes that take place in the wood of Mimosa ophthalmocentra and M. tenuiflora when charred artificially at temperatures of 400, 600 and 800 °C and compares them with charcoal produced in a traditional temporary kiln in northeast Brazil. Our findings can be applied to interpreting the conditions in which charcoal has been produced, and document what happens qualitatively to the vessels, fibres, axial parenchyma and rays in very dense Mimosa wood (>1.00). The observations are specific to these two species.

Anatomical changes to the wood of Croton sonderianus (Euphorbiaceae) when charred at different temperatures

Wood retains most of its anatomical characteristics when charred, but charring temperature determines the appearance of the resulting charcoal and this depends largely on the proportions and distribution of the constituent vessels, fibres and parenchyma, as well as moisture content. This study describes the structural changes in the charcoal of the wood of Croton sonderianus Muell. Arg. at two temperatures, 400 °C or 600 °C. This species is an important source of charcoal in the caatinga of the northeast part of Brazil. The samples were heated for ten minutes to reach treatment temperature, charred for two hours at either 400 °C or 600 °C and then left to cool to ambient temperature for 30 to 60 minutes. Our observations showed that most of the changes occurred when charcoal was produced at 600 °C, but the qualitative features necessary for identification were retained. At this temperature, cells lost their circular shape, became angular and occasionally amorphous, the middle lamella disappeared and the walls of adjacent cells coalesced, cell walls became thinner, and the prismatic crystals developed cracks and became porous. Our findings are compared with those for two previously studied Mimosa species which have an entirely different anatomy.

‘The Mona Chronicle’: the archaeology of early religious encounter in the New World

Abstract The Caribbean island of Mona, on a key Atlantic route from Europe to the Americas, was at the heart of sixteenth-century Spanish colonial projects. Communities on the island were exposed to the earliest waves of European impact during a critical period of transformation and the forging of new identities. One of many caves within an extensive subterranean world on the island was marked both by indigenous people and by the first generations of Europeans to arrive in the New World. This account of spiritual encounters provides a rare, personalised insight into intercultural religious dynamics in the early Americas.

An Aboriginal Shield Collected in 1770 at Kamay Botany Bay: An Indicator of Pre-Colonial Exchange Systems in South-Eastern Australia

A bark shield now in the British Museum can be identified from documentary and pictorial evidence as one collected by Captain Cook during his first voyage to Australia in 1770. Such shields often had special value to their Australian Aboriginal owners and hence might have been exchanged over considerable distances. This particular shield is known to have been collected in Kamay Botany Bay but analysis of the bark of which it is made revealed it to be of red mangrove, a tropical species found today more than 500km distant on the New South Wales north coast. It hence bears valuable testimony to the long-distance exchange networks operating in eastern Australia in the period before the disruption caused by European colonisation.

Reconstructing the Woody Resources of the Medieval Kingdom of Alwa, Sudan

Plant remains were recovered from excavations at Soba East, a large urban center and capital of the medieval Kingdom of Alwa (6th to 13th century AD) in Sudan. Apart from cereals and other food plants, a large assemblage of desiccated wood and charcoal was recovered from domestic and funerary contexts. This paper focuses on the use of wood at the site with special reference to the selection of timber for specific functions; the results are also used to reconstruct the local vegetation and to examine the issue of land use pressure.

An investigation of the dye palette in Chinese silk embroidery from Dunhuang (Tang dynasty)

Abstract‘Sakyamuni preaching on Vulture Peak’ is one of the largest known Chinese silk embroideries thought to date to the eighth century, under the Tang dynasty (618–907). It was found at the cave temple site of Qian Fo Dong, near Dunhuang, one of the most famous archaeological sites in China, and is now in the British Museum (BM). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the state of degradation of the original and restoration fibres, which appeared very brittle in many areas. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometry was undertaken to give an indication of the mordants. Although the results were difficult to interpret due to elemental contamination, some indications were obtained regarding aluminium and iron mordants on the silk embroidery. Selected dyed threads were sampled and analysed using high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). The samples were representative of the entire dye palette used. In some of the areas that are now demonstrated to be extremely faded, safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) was identified. More than one source of indigotin was probably used for the blues, and the greens were obtained by mixing these with at least two sources of yellow dyes: a berberine- and a luteolin-based dye. Browns were tannin-based. Two sources of reds were also present: a plant of the Rubiaceae family and a currently unknown red source. The presence of shikonin, probably from gromwell (Lithospermum erythrorhizon), was revealed in a purple stripe in mixture with sappan wood Caesalpinia sappan (Biancaea sappan) to obtain a particular hue. Other molecular components were often present with the main dyes and tandem mass spectra were acquired in an attempt to elucidate their structures and discuss the possible reasons for their presence. This work represents an important addition to the current knowledge about Chinese dyes and available mass spectral data for the identification of dye sources in archaeological textiles from the Silk Road.