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Since the mid-twentieth century, the study of designs on seals has often focused on exotica and elite items. The PLOMAT project investigates visual and material communication outside of elite exchange networks during the Late Bronze Age in western Eurasia. The authors present results from plotting flows of ‘commonplace’ cylinder seals and those classified as ‘Common-Style Mittani’.
PLOMAT: plotting material flows of ‘commonplace’ Late Bronze Age seals in western Eurasia
In the ninth century AD, Moravia (now in Czechia) was the heartland of the first Slavic state-like formation in Central Europe. Traditionally, the archaeology of the region has been interpreted via historical records only; the FORMOR project aims to broaden this view by using archaeometry, archaeogenetics, bioarchaeology and introducing new theoretical approaches.
FORMOR project: analysis of the formation of complex societies in Early Medieval Moravia
This Andean coast research has identified 113-plus geoglyphs spanning the Formative (1800–100 BC) to the Inka period (AD 1470–1532). The project combined digital technology and Remotely Piloted Airborne Systems to locate the sites. The authors also documented examples of ceramics and intricate road systems and suggest that the finds represent meticulously ritualised landscapes.
Geoglyphs in the Andean Central Coast: combining digital and traditional survey techniques
Rock art can be useful as a factor in reclaiming Indigenous identities. One example of this phenomenon is work by contemporary artists who explore and integrate rock art in their creations. The author considers how and why a selection of artists in Siberia/Central Asia and Canada use these ancient images.
Giving rock art new life: combining past images, identity and contemporary art
The complexity of the settlement pattern of hunter-gatherers is an underexplored issue in Tibetan archaeology; the multi-year survey and excavations at the Xiada Co site aim to address this situation. The project has provided evidence of long-term human occupation since the Early Holocene and has revealed the earliest human residential structures in Tibet.
Long-term prehistoric human occupation in Western Tibet: excavations and surveys at the Xiada Co site
Systematic investigation of caves and rockshelters in Uruguay is revealing the archaeological importance of these sites and their association with earthen mounds. Multiple periods of human occupation at Tamanduá rockshelter are revealed through stratigraphic analysis, and radiocarbon dates suggest recurrent occupation from the Early Holocene up to the historic period.
New sites and challenges in prehistoric archaeology of Uruguay: recurrent occupations in caves, rockshelters and earthen mounds
This project focuses on the subsistence strategies of Early Neolithic communities that inhabited the upland region of South Bohemia. Its results reveal a distinctive trajectory for this peripheral area that was colonised significantly later, brought incoming farmers into close contact with hunter-gatherers and made them adapt their conservative farming practices.
At the edge of Neolithic transition: strategies of the Linearbandkeramik farmers in South Bohemia (Czechia)
Combining non- and minimally invasive archaeological survey, geomorphological methods and linguistic studies enables a better understanding of the dynamic use of the Daugava waterway from the Bronze to the Viking ages. Results indicate a common origin period of many fortified settlements and also identify research questions about cultural fluctuations in the Baltic-Slavic–Scandinavian contact area.
INHILLDAUGAR: minimally invasive fieldwork and linguistic analysis on hillforts along the Daugava river
The ancient site of Nessana in the south-western Negev had an important role in the logistics of early-Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The arid climate, which preserved organic material, and the richness of multilingual epigraphic evidence from this region make Nessana a key site for archaeological study of the material culture of pilgrimage.
Excavating ancient pilgrimage at Nessana, Negev
Reconstruction of a nineteenth-century cobbled pathway in the village of Aristi provides valuable insights into the material culture and settlement archaeology of Ottoman-era Greece. The authors argue that such small-scale pairing of restoration and archaeological practices in ‘traditional’ settlements could enhance our understanding of Ottoman archaeology without undermining the lived experience of such places.
Crafting crossroads in Zagori (north-west Greece): Ottoman-era archaeology through a workshop in vernacular architecture
Jicha is a Bronze Age settlement located next to the upper Mekong River in the Hengduan Mountains of Yunnan, south-west China. Recent excavations have revealed details of successive occupation and copper-base industrial activity. The site's position and chronology provide evidence of north–south demographic movement and technological transmission along the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau corridor.
Southbound transmission of metallurgy: new excavations at Jicha in the Hengduan Mountains, Yunnan
In 2023, during the underwater archaeological documentation of the port of Puteoli, a submerged Nabataean temple was located and partially investigated. The authors present the first results of these new research activities, including a reconstruction of part of the building and details of two altars and some inscribed slabs.
The submerged Nabataean temple in Puteoli at Pozzuoli, Italy: first campaign of underwater research
This article reports on the archaeological survey of a (military) fort and (trade) caravanserai at Khirbet al-Khalde in southern Jordan, along the eastern Roman frontier. The results reveal the site's resilience and destruction up until the present day and the need for monitoring of threats to its preservation.
A multiscalar approach to survey of military and trade architecture in Jordan: the case of Khirbet al-Khalde
The Redes Andinas (Andean Networks) project assesses the complexity of ancient road networks in the archaeological record in the Andes, beyond the Inca roads system. A multiscale methodological approach allows us to characterise the transformation and resilience of the road networks over the past millennium, in the context of the 18°South parallel's vertical transect.
Beyond Inca roads: the Redes Andinas project explores complex palimpsests of Andean road networks
‘An archaeology of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939’ is a multidisciplinary scientific project that focuses on collecting the material evidence of the Nazi German mass execution committed in the first months of the Second World War in the Gdańsk Pomerania region in Poland. Since 2023, it has excavated mass graves containing material evidence of crimes against humanity.
An archaeology of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939: collecting the material evidence
Decades of conflict in the Gaza Strip have contributed to widely documented cultural heritage destruction, demonstrating a need to monitor vulnerable sites and enhance the empirical base. This article describes how the Gaza Maritime Archaeology Project (GAZAMAP 2022–2023) was developed to monitor coastal and near-coastal sites, collaboratively. Owing to the unprecedented destruction of heritage since October 2023, GAZAMAP's scope has fundamentally shifted.
New investigations in Gaza's heritage landscapes: the Gaza Maritime Archaeology Project (GAZAMAP)
Despite its key role in out-of-Africa hominin dispersals, little is known about Pleistocene human occupation of north-eastern Africa outside the Nile Valley and desert oases. A survey in Wadi Abu Subeira aims to help fill this gap and attests to the repeated occupation of the Eastern Desert during the Pleistocene.
Raw-material exploitation in the Earlier and Middle Stone Age in the Eastern Desert of Egypt: evidence from Wadi Abu Subeira
Prior to this work, no Palaeolithic field survey had been conducted in the central region of the northern Iranian Central Desert. This article is the first account of the presence of Pleistocene hominins in Eyvanekey, Semnan Province, and reports the recovery of lithics that date to at least the Middle Palaeolithic.
Evidence of Pleistocene hominin landscapes in Eyvanekey, Iran, and implications for the Northern Dispersal Corridor