A01_P01

Migrations and Cultural Evolution in the Light of Radiocarbon Dating of Bronze Age Sites in the Southern Urals

Epimakhov A¹, Zazovskaya E²

¹South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation, ²Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation

The Southern Urals in the Bronze Age was the center of the formation of Andronovo family of cultures, as well as a zone of interaction of different traditions (Srubnaya, Seima-Turbino, etc.) Paleogenetic data confirm the heterogeneity of the population and diagnose two waves of migrations in the 3rd and early 2nd millennium BCE. These waves alternate with periods of stabilization and evolutionary change. The migration events are well provided with radiocarbon dating, but the periods of stability have turned out to be almost completely out of the focus of the interests of specialists in recent decades. ¹⁴C dates obtained in the 1970s - early 2000s are contradictory and insufficient for the reconstruction of processes. More than 30 samples were produced at the Institute of Geography RAS. Graphitization and pressing of the target for ¹⁴C AMS were conducted with the automated graphitization system AGE 3. ¹⁴C AMS measurement was performed at the Center for Applied Isotope Studies, University of Georgia (Athens, USA) using the CAIS 0.5 MeV accelerator mass spectrometer. Eight sites and seven cultural traditions have been dated. The new results were compared with dates obtained earlier. This allows us to solve problems of various scales: clarify the chronological position of some important complexes and objects; form (or significantly correct) the intervals of existence of a number of cultural traditions: improve the discussion of forms of their interaction; to simulate the duration of the functioning of sites and phases for some of them.

A01_P02

Secrets of the iron. A Case-study of iron-objects from Nowe Brzesko (Lesser Poland) deposit.

Bulas J¹, Huels M², Michał Kasiński  M³, Okońska-Bulas M^1,3

¹Arch Foundation, Krakow, Poland, ²Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, Kiel, Germany, ³Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

A rarely found iron tool group deposit was recently discovered at what needs to be considered a multicultural and multiphase site of Nowe Brzesko (Lesser Poland) along the Vistula River. In the past the site was occupied by different populations, oldest traces discovered date back to the Neolithic (approx. 6 - 2 thousand yrs BC). More numerous finds originate from the La Tène and Roman periods (e.g., Celts and representatives of the Przeworsk culture), as well as from the Middle Ages.

A group of several dozen metal objects were found on the surface within 1.5 m² at the topsoil. The artefacts discovered consists mainly of agricultural tools and were preserved in whole or in fragments. Lacking additional contextual and chronological evidence and having unspecific features, their chronology was initially assigned broadly from the Roman Iron Age to the late Middle Ages.

Radiocarbon measurements were conducted on four selected iron objects and allowed to relate the findings to the Late Roman period (i.e., 3rd – 4th century AD). Metallographic analyses on the metal objects were also carried out, indicating comparable production processes (i.e., the bloomary process), but may also indicate differences with respect to source material.

This study, one of the first examples of direct radiocarbon dating of Przeworsk culture iron objects, may open new research perspectives related to the economy of iron production within the late Przeworsk with respect to resources.

A01_P03

Contextualizing the presence of Late Bronze Age Millet at the Arnbjerg site - Investigating settlement dynamics in Jutland, Denmark

Kanstrup M¹, Sørensen C², Olsen J¹

¹Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark, ²Viborg Museum, Viborg, Denmark

Situated near Viborg, just south of Lake Søndersø, large-scale archaeological excavations at Arnbjerg N revealed a great amount of Settlement evidence. A priority within the project was to Radiocarbon date a wide range of samples in order to investigate the duration of the different settlement features and the dynamics of the site compared with the Settlement History in the same region using Bayesian modelling. In total more than 220 samples were dated, giving ages mainly ranging from The Late Neolithic to the Early Iron Age with a relatively large concentration of dates situated on the Hallstatt Plateau. The overall distribution of the dates demonstrates site continuity with a few interesting exceptions. Here we focus on the settlement recovery and consolidation phase following a clear hiatus from 1200-800 BCE. This Hallstatt settlement phase is particular since we here see clear evidence of Late Bronze Age Millet farming in the archaeobotanical assemblages. Millet is not a common crop found to be cultivated in Denmark. The spread of millet to Northern Europe tend to give rise to considerations about linkages to pan-continental communicative networks, and the exchange of both goods, social mobility, and technology. Besides the obvious new and more exotic agrarian trait, the archaeology in the Hallstatt phase of Arnbjerg also reveal new features in the architectural lay out of the longhouses.  Combined the different sources of evidence points out differences in the development in the Settlement structure compared to earlier phases.

A01_P04

Development of a new method to extract and date of carbonized material in pottery

Kunikita D¹, Obata H², Miyaji S³, Omori T⁴, Ozaki H⁴, Yoneda M⁴

¹Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan, ²Kumamoto Unibersity, Kumamoto, Japan, ³Kyushu Historical Museum, Fukuoka , Japan, ⁴The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

The timing of the introduction of grains such as rice, foxtail and broomcorn millets originating from mainland China into the surrounding areas is an important issue in discussing agriculture throughout East Asia. However, data on carbonized grains are extremely rare in Japan at the beginning of early agriculture, there remains uncertainty in whether the grains coincided with the accompanying pottery type.

  We proposed a new method that uses X-ray equipment to search for carbonized grains embedded within earthenware and directly date these grins in order to solve this problem. We applied this method to a key site, the Etsuji site, Kyushu Island, to examine the introduction of rice and millet agriculture to Japan (Obata and Kunikita, 2022).

  In this presentation, we compare the ages of the newly obtained pottery-embedded carbonized materials at the Higashihataze site with the ages of the pottery-adhered carbonized materials. In the Japanese archipelago, marine organisms often affect the contents of boiled foods, and the age may be older than the actual age. This method could make a significant contribution to the study on the pottery typologies and the age of carbonized grains without being affected by the marine reservoir effect.

Obata, H., Kunikita, D., 2022. A new archaeological method to reveal the arrival of cereal farming: Development of a new method to extract and date of carbonized material in pottery and its application to Japanese archaeological context. Journal of Archaeological Science 143.

A01_P05

New evidence for early human activity in Shigatse, Southern Tibetan Plateau during Late MIS3 epoch.

Li W^1,2,4, Zhou W^1,2,3, Cheng P^1,2, Shu P^1,2, Du H^1,2

¹1 State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, China, ²Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Technology and Application, Xi’an AMS Center of IEECAS and Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China, ³CAS Center for Excellence in Quaternary Science and Global Change, Xi'an, China, ⁴ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

New evidence for early human activity in Shigatse, Southern Tibetan Plateau during Late MIS3 epoch

Tibetan Plateau (TP) is a hotspot for early human history research. However, there is limited evidence of prehistoric human activity on southern TP, and the validity of these dates requires additional investigation. Here, we present 21 AMS ¹⁴C dating results of bones collagen and charcoal remains from a newly discovered lithic site (including paleolithic and microlithic) in Shigatse, Yarlung Zangbo River Valley basin, southern TP. The dating results for collagen and charcoals show strong conformity. These two Our extensive chronological data reveal that people occupied in the Yarlung Tsangpo River basin from 960 to 680 cal yr B.P, 2730 to 2370 cal yr B.P, and 29110 to 23090 cal yr B.P. To the best of our knowledge, our new finds provide the first evidence for early human activity in the Southern TP during Late MIS3 epoch.

A01_P06

A Multidisciplinary approach to the comprehension of the peopling of Portus Romae Antemurale area

Rossi P³, De Angelis F², Rickards O², Di Cicco M¹, Mantile N¹, Altieri S¹, Vetromile C¹, Spagnuolo A¹, Cocozza C¹, Vaccaro S³, Lubritto C¹

¹Università della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" - Dipartimento DiSTABiF - iCONa LAb & MAReA centre, Caserta, Italy, ²Centre of Molecular Anthropology for Ancient DNA studies, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy, ³Servizio di Antropologia, Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica, Ministero della Cultura, Roma, Italy

The Antemurale area of Portus Romae (Rome, Italy) returned several burials from the Late Antiquity/ early Medieval period. The site was ever investigated until the nineteenth century. In this paper a multidisciplinary approach, involving archaeological, bioanthropological, isotopic, and molecular analyses has been used to study people buried in that area. Radiocarbon dating, stable isotopes analysis, anthropological and DNA studies, has been performed on the 14 individuals from this area, and this sample represent now the first nucleus of investigation of a much broader research that aims to reconstruct the peopling and the change of human life style through the time in the ancient town so called Portus Romae.

Moreover, an explorative sample of 4 individuals was submitted to genomic analyses through a Whole Genome Sequencing to dissect their genetic ancestry to broaden our knowledge of the biological characteristics of people living in the area. Even though the DNA preservation was mined by chemical-physical diagenesis, we could detect reliable information about the European ancestry in Portus Romae, by comparing the data with roughly coeval and diachronic samples. Furthermore, we determined the genetic sex in children by mapping the reads to the sex chromosomes, starting to contribute to the demographic analysis of the area.