Lisa-Marie Shillito

Grains of truth or transparent blindfolds? A review of current debates in archaeological phytolith analysis

Phytolith analysis has become an increasingly popular archaeobotanical tool in the past few decades. Phytoliths have been used to support key hypotheses relating to the domestication of several food crops and in the study of ancient diet, and they are of particular importance in contexts where other plant remains are poorly preserved. However, the discipline has also been subject to controversy and debate. This paper gives an overview of the technique and three key case studies covering a range of geographical areas. Some of the problems that are common to each are discussed and suggestions are made for how these problems could be resolved in future research. It is suggested that further caution should be taken during interpretation, and a greater consideration given to taphonomy. Despite these criticisms it is concluded that there is still much potential in the technique, particularly when integrated with other lines of microarchaeological evidence.

The microstratigraphy of middens: capturing daily routine in rubbish at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey

Microstratigraphy — the sequencing of detailed biological signals on site — is an important new approach being developed in the Çatalhöyük project. Here the authors show how microscopic recording of the strata and content of widespread middens on the tell are revealing daily activities and the selective employment of plants in houses and as fuel. Here we continue to witness a major advance in the practice of archaeological investigation.

Rapid characterisation of archaeological midden components using FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM-EDX and micro-XRD

Samples taken from middens at the Neolithic site of Catalhöyük in Turkey have been analysed using IR spectroscopy backed up by powder XRD and SEM-EDX. Microcomponents studied include fossil hackberries (providing evidence of ancient diet and seasonality), mineral nodules (providing evidence of post-depositional change) and phytoliths (mineralised plant cells, providing evidence of usage of plant species). Finely laminated ashy deposits have also been investigated allowing chemical and mineralogical variations to be explored. It is found that many layers which appear visually to be quite distinctive have, in fact, very similar mineralogy.

Feeding Stonehenge: Cuisine and consumption at the Late Neolithic site of Durrington Walls

Abstract The discovery of Neolithic houses at Durrington Walls that are contemporary with the main construction phase of Stonehenge raised questions as to their interrelationship. Was Durrington Walls the residence of the builders of Stonehenge? Were the activities there more significant than simply domestic subsistence? Using lipid residue analysis, this paper identifies the preferential use of certain pottery types for the preparation of particular food groups and differential consumption of dairy and meat products between monumental and domestic areas of the site. Supported by the analysis of faunal remains, the results suggest seasonal feasting and perhaps organised culinary unification of a diverse community.

Surfaces and streets. Phytoliths, micromorphology and changing use of space at Neolithic Çatalhöyük (Turkey)

The site of Çatalhöyük occupies a key position within the development of larger settlements in south-west Asia, but the apparent absence of outdoor activity areas has challenged conceptions of social interaction within the site. Where did the inhabitants of this substantial settlement meet together if there were no public spaces? The identification of outdoor activity areas is difficult in such a densely patterned settlement, but micromorphology and phytolith analysis, when used together, can provide secure interpretations. The present study applies these methods to a stratigraphic sequence of deposits in the South Area, where a succession of open areas was located adjacent to a series of buildings. The analysis reveals that these open areas were gradually transformed from a place for the dumping or accumulation of midden material in the early phases, to an informal and then a formally laid surface in the later stages. This suggests that although streets or courtyards may have been rare or absent in the early centuries at Çatalhöyük, they were present in the later phases of the occupation.

Multivocality and multiproxy approaches to the use of space: lessons from 25 years of research at Çatalhöyük

ABSTRACT Understanding site formation processes is essential before we can make inferences about human behaviour, and a key part of the inferential process is the integration of multiple, diverse lines of evidence. The term ‘multiproxy’ has become increasingly used in studies of use of space, particularly in geoarchaeology, to describe an approach in which multiple methods are combined to reduce the impact of equifinality of interpretation. Since the early 1990s this integration has been an aim of the reflexive methodology at the Neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük. Methods including sediment micromorphology, microartefact patterning and geochemical analyses of floors and wall plasters, phytoliths and starch, alongside artefact studies, macrobotanical and zooarchaeological analysis have all provided insights, but there is still a gap between macroscale and microscale approaches, and integration has not always been successful. Considering the history of analytical approaches at this site provides an opportunity to reflect on how we acquire and interpret archaeological science data, and the relationship between multiproxy and multivocality.

Survival at the Frontier of Holy War: Political Expansion, Crusading, Environmental Exploitation and the Medieval Colonizing Settlement at Biała Góra, North Poland

AbstractBetween the eleventh and thirteenth centuries AD, the Lower Vistula valley represented a permeable and shifting frontier between Pomerelia (eastern Pomerania), which had been incorporated into the Polish Christian state by the end of the tenth century, and the territories of western Prussian tribes, who had resisted attempts at Christianization. Pomeranian colonization eventually began to falter in the latter decades of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, most likely as a result of Prussian incursions, which saw the abandonment of sites across the borderland. Subsequently, the Teutonic Order and its allies led a protracted holy war against the Prussian tribes, which resulted in the conquest of the region and its incorporation into a theocratic state by the end of the thirteenth century. This was accompanied by a second wave of colonization, which resulted in the settlement pattern that is still visible in the landscape of north-central Poland today. However, not all colonies were destroyed...

Biała Góra: The forgotten colony in the medieval Pomeranian-Prussian borderlands

Biała Góra 3 is a small settlement founded in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century AD in the disputed Christian borderlands of Northern Europe. The incorporation of Pomerania into the Polish state in the tenth century was followed by a process of colonisation across the lower Vistula valley, which then stalled before resuming in the thirteenth century under the Teutonic Order. Biała Góra 3 is unusual in falling between the two expansionist phases and provides detailed insight into the ethnicity and economy of this borderland community. Pottery and metalwork show strong links with both Pomeranian and German colonists, and caches of bricks and roof tiles indicate durable buildings of the kind associated with the monastic and military orders. Evidence for the presence of merchants suggests Biała Góra 3 was one of many outposts in the commercial network that shadowed the Crusades.

New Research at Paisley Caves: Applying New Integrated Analytical Approaches to Understanding Stratigraphy, Taphonomy, and Site Formation Processes

ABSTRACT Paisley Caves in Oregon has become well known due to early dates, and human presence in the form of coprolites, found to contain ancient human DNA. Questions remain over whether the coprolites themselves are human, or whether the DNA is mobile in the sediments. This brief introduces new research applying an integrated analytical approach combining sediment micromorphology and lipid biomarker analysis, which aims to resolve these problems.

Tiziana Matarazzo. Micromorphological analysis of activity areas sealed by Vesuvius’ Avellino eruption: the Early Bronze Age village of Afragola in southern Italy. 2015. viii+200 pages, numerous colour and bw 978-1-78491-211-6 paperback £38.

In the conclusion (Chapter 13), Peltenburg seamlessly assembles and interprets all of the data presented in the previous chapters into a clear discourse about the role of mortuary practices at Tell Jerablus Tahtani. In particular, he focuses his attention on the monumental tomb T302, which, in his opinion, due to its unique location (at the corridor/entrance to the fortified site), monumental size and wealth of grave goods and later commemorative deposits, represents “a materialization of an ideology to enhance the power of ascendant elites and ensure the reproduction of a dominant political order at a time of growing competition among polities” (p. 236). In so doing, Peltenburg brilliantly links the data available from this site to its broader regional setting, as well as the textual sources (such as those from the third-millennium BC city-state of Ebla), to suggest the cosmological value assigned to the cult of elite ancestors.