The applications of multispectral and morphometric image analysis to soil thin section descriptions is examined. It is shown that unsupervised classification and contrast stretching can be used to enhance and label features of interest. Morphometric measurements, allow the shape and abundance of features in thin sections to be compared and statistical relationships established. This method of analysis offers a precision beyond that which is possible using a qualitative approach. Using soil micromorphology as the main analytical technique a case study was carried out to evaluate the applicability of image analysis to an investigation of an archaeological site at Lairg in northern Scotland. The interactions of anthropogenic activity and pedogenesis since the Bronze Age is examined. The condition of the soils prior to the Bronze Age is not known because no buried soils predated this period. Evidence suggests that in freely draining situations complete podzols might have formed by this time. During the Bronze and Iron Age intensive cultivation of soils occurred with associated erosion. In areas of the site, where human activity is dated to the Post Medieval period, deepening of A horizons is apparent and the soils are maintained as Brown Podzols. In many areas where human activity stops stagnopodzols are the dominant soil type. The potential of image analysis to aid soil micromorphological descriptions is demonstrated. Contrast stretching aided a qualitative subdivision of thin section slides during the case study. Morphometric analysis confirmed a relationship between shape of voids and c/f ratios in an Iron Age buried A horizon, A PM buried A horizon and an undated deep topsoil. It is concluded that the full benefits of image analysis, when used as a routine tool to aid thin section descriptions, will only be realised when procedures become more interactive and processes can be speeded up.

The subject of this thesis is processing archeological locality Hoštice-Sečné louky 4 and Mořice-Pololány 1. Take up with archeological findings, their analysis, determination, primary interpretation and contextualization to the chronological period. The work includes an assessment of correlate settlement and burial ground of uneticer culture, and interpretation settlement burials.

Hydrogen molybdenum oxide, known has molybdenum bronze, is a material of interest due to catalyzing electron transfer reactions. Specifically, molybdenum bronze is an electrocatalyst toward carbon dioxide reduction. Electrochemical deposition from a peroxymolybdic acid solution is a method for preparing molybdenum bronze films. This work demonstrates reproducible electrodeposition on indium tin oxide substrates and conductive carbon paper. Film thickness depends on concentration, time and pH. After characterization by film thickness, resistance, XRD and XPS, the as deposited films served as the working electrode for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide in 0.1 M NaHCO3. Ion chromatography determined formate resulting in 8% faradaic efficiency at an applied potential of -0.4 V. Interestingly, this potential is similar to use of formate dehydrogenase as an electrocatalyst. Carbon monoxide levels were attempted to be determined by GC in the headspace of an H type electrochemical cell. Results show that these films are applicable towards electrochemical CO2 reduction to formate when supported on carbon.

Heaps of fire-cracked stone is an archaeological site category frequently found in Sweden. The heaps were constructed by piling a massive amount of deposited fire-cracked stones and occasionally they contain artefacts, for example, grindstones, ceramics or bones from both humans and animals. The heaps are sometimes also constructed with complex inner stone patterns in forms of e.g. circles and spirals. The heaps have been found all over Sweden, but the largest concentration is associated with the county of Uppland, north of Stockholm in eastern Sweden. In general, the structures have been linked chronologically to the Bronze Age (1800 B.C.–500 B.C.), although the heaps might be one of the least understood features of Scandinavian prehistory, as a result of their complex and varying content and spatial location. The remains are thoroughly debated, and the interpretation of them varies, ranging from graves to household indications, from sacral to profane, from piles of waste to markers of claimed land. The interpretations of the fire cracked stone heaps have mainly been made by comparing the contents of the heaps with finds from the surrounding archaeological landscape.                  In this study, the heaps will be analysed by using a landscape perspective by which they will be examined in relation to dynamic high-resolution shoreline reconstructions, vegetation and local topography. By examining the heaps by applying a high-resolution landscape model, suggests that their placement patterns are strongly connected to past shorelines. The analysis has in turn resulted in a non-prejudicial dating method for the heaps. The shoreline model was in the next step tested by a comparison to 118 published 14C-dates associated with fire-cracked stone heaps by using Kernel Density Estimations (KDE). The main result of the study is that the high-resolution shoreline model, in combination with KDE, provides an effective dating method for heaps of fire-cracked stone, which in the extension suggests an alternative motive for the construction of the heaps.

No description available.

The Fogdarp hoard from Scania in Sweden is an unusual deposit from the Late Bronze Age. Unlike similar hoards this was not found in a wetland, but was buried in the ground with a rock placed on top of it. Deposits in dry land have sometimes been considered to be a hiding place for a smith’s metalwork. But since the Fogdarp hoard contains ritual bronze objects, it has been called a ritual deposit. The aim of this paper is to investigate the Fogdarp hoard by using a landscape analysis. By doing so the study will contribute to the understanding of the hoards context, and why this hoard was buried and not deposited in a wetland. The landscape analysis shows that the hoard is buried closed to the water and in a ritual landscape on the edge of a valley. The discussion will also analyze the objects in this particular hoard: their symbolic value will be elaborated in the analysis. As a comparison, this paper includes other deposits from the Late Bronze Age. My interpretation of the objects in the Fogdarp hoard is that they are a part of the sun cult of the Nordic Bronze Age, where sun-goddess and the divine twins play an important role.

Le sujet de cette étude est le commerce et l’utilisation de divers produits issus d’arbres et d’arbustes dans le royaume d’Ougarit, situé sur la côte de la Syrie et dont la documentation écrite nous renseigne sur l’époque du Bronze récent, principalement les XIVe et XIIIe siècles avant J.-C. Ce royaume est particulièrement bien connu grâce aux milliers de tablettes trouvées depuis 82 ans sur le site de Ras Shamra et plus récemment sur celui de Ras Ibn Hani. Ces tablettes sont écrites très majoritairement dans deux langues et deux systèmes d’écriture cunéiforme : d’une part, la langue locale, baptisée « ougaritique », notée grâce à un système alphabétique, d’autre part, l’akkadien babylonien, noté selon un système logo-syllabique. A cheval entre la côte et la montagne, ce royaume était situé entre les deux grandes régions pourvoyeuses de bois dans la plus haute antiquité, comme en atteste la documentation égyptienne et mésopotamienne, ainsi que la Bible, la montagne libanaise et l’Amanus. Le lieu est donc particulièrement important pour ce sujet. Après un aperçu géographique, démographique, linguistique, historique et économique sur le royaume d'Ougarit, nous avons étudié successivement l'ébène, le pin et le sapin, le cèdre, le genévrier, le cyprès, le buis, le ¶rgz, le palmier, l’olivier et le bois-¶lmg, ainsi que le vignoble, la vigne et ses produits.Nous avons commencé chaque chapitre par une identification botanique et linguistique. Puis nous avons tenté de situer quelles étaient les régions qui étaient les sources principales de ces richesses naturelles. Ensuite, nous avons établi un aperçu historique sur le commerce des produits d'arbres et d’arbustes et sur les moyens de transport. Nous avons tenté de préciser leur nature, leur quantité, leur qualité, leur poids et leur prix à Ougarit et à l'extérieur. A la fin, nous avons étudié les diverses utilisations et leur rôle dans l'artisanat, la médecine, la religion et la magie dans l'antiquité. Ce faisant, il nous a été donné aussi d’approcher la valeur symbolique de ces arbres et de ces bois. / The subject of our dissertation is the trade and use of various products derived from trees and shrubs in the Kingdom of Ugarit, located on the coast of Syria and whose written documentation informs us about the Late Bronze Age, mainly fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BC. The kingdom is well known thanks to the thousands of tablets found in the last 82 years on the site of Ras Shamra and more recently that of Ras Ibn Hani. These tablets are written overwhelmingly in two languages and two systems of cuneiform writing: first, the local language, called “Ugaritic”, noted in an alphabetic system, on the other hand, the Babylonian Akkadian, noted by a logo-syllabic script. Situated between the coast and mountains, this kingdom was located between two major regions suppliers of timber in the most remote antiquity, as evidenced by Egyptian and Mesopotamian literature and the Bible, the Lebanese mountains and the Amanus mountain. The place is thus particularly important for this topic. Following an overview of geographical, demographic, linguistic, historical and economic on the kingdom of Ugarit, we studied successively ebony, pine and fir, cedar, juniper, cypress, boxwood, ¶Rgz, palm-tree, olive-tree, ñlmg-wood and vineyard, the vine and its products .We started each chapter with a botanical and linguistical identification. We tried to locate what were the areas that were the main sources of these natural resources. Then, we established a historical overview on the trade in products from trees and transportation. We tried to clarify their nature, quantity, quality, weight and price in Ugarit and outside. Finally, we examined the various uses and their role in craft, medicine, religion and magic. In doing so, we could also approach the symbolic value of these trees and woods.

Despite the potential of a biocultural methodology, osteology and archaeology are often approached separately in some parts of Central Europe. This osteoarchaeological thesis presents a rare comparative study of populations occupying modern-day Slovakia, Moravia, and Bohemia from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age (EBA). By examining skeletal indicators of health and lifestyle, it aims to contribute to bioarchaeological research within the study region. It also provides new insights into a series of important sites where no osteological evaluation of skeletal remains have previously been performed. Human remains from thirty-four sites in Slovakia, Moravia and Bohemia, 152 adults and 136 subadults, were analysed. Demographic, pathological and metric data were recorded and evaluated, and compared with previously published data for contemporaneous populations in order to create a more comprehensive representation of the populations in the area. The results suggest several differences between the Neolithic and the following periods, mostly as regards health status. Higher dietary and environmental stress was indicated in the Neolithic period, as suggested by lower mortality peak (especially of females and subadults) and about 5cm shorter stature, and generally worse health status of Neolithic population when compared to the Chalcolithic and EBA individuals. The Neolithic is also the only period where females were more numerous than males. Such a trend is quite common in the Neolithic of the study region. This may be a result of increased migration of Neolithic females, as raids for wives are suggested to have been practiced. As indicated by both the osteological and archaeological record, one of the sites examined, Svodín, could have been a site of contemporary elites and their family members. Chalcolithic populations revealed differences in cranial shape, being mesocephalic (medium-headed) or brachycephalic (short-headed), whereas both the Neolithic and the EBA populations were dolichocephalic (long-headed). Differences in male and female cranial features suggest a possible mixing of indigenous and incoming populations. Such results may contribute to the ongoing discussion about the ‘foreignness‘ of Chalcolithic Bell Beaker people in the area. Traumatic lesions suggest that males were more physically active than females in all three periods, including violent encounters. Even though violence was recorded in all three periods, especially in the western part of the region, and the intensity and brutality of the assaults appears to increase in the Chalcolithic and culminating in the EBA. In addition, poorer health status of EBA children was recorded, possibly related to more marked social differentiation in the period. In general, poorer health was implied for the prehistoric populations of today’s Slovakia. The results of this study can serve as the basis for future research and contribute to a more comprehensive image of lifestyle and development of prehistoric populations in the study area.

Abstract Gravfält och byar - En komparativ undersökning av sex gravfält från Värend. Gravefields and villages - A comparative analysis of sex gravefields from Värend. Abstract   The basis that this study stands on, is that iron age-gravfields represents nearby village communities. The purpose of this study was to investigate if six gravefields within the old folkland Värend represent different villages, or does the six representative gravefield-villages only show dissimilarity in social differences that occurred within the villages?   A comparative method analysis was used in this study, to help examine comparisons of the different grave types within the gravefields and the social phenomena that they reflect. To help the method further, old maps of the gravefields were used and field observations were made, to get a better picture in how the different grave types were placed and arranged within the gravefields and landscape.   The results show that these six gravefields probably represents their own nearby villages, and many of the graves that occur within the different gravefields, are alike to each other, which show that these supposed representative gravefield-villages had similar grave traditions. / Sammanfattning Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka sex gravfält från det gamla folklandet Värend, varav de sex gravfälten ligger idag inom Växjö kommun. Gravfälten som undersöktes var Lilla Fjäll-gravfältet (Växjö RAÄ 111:1), Ingelstad-gravfältet (Östra Torsås RAÄ 1:1), Telestad-gravfältet (Växjö RAÄ 12:1), Skir-gravfältet (Växjö RAÄ 19–20:1), Orraryd-gravfältet (Nöbbele RAÄ 3:1) och Västenhaga-gravfältet (Bergunda RAÄ 25:1). Denna studie fokuserade sig på att undersöka de olika gravtyper som förekommer inom de sex gravfälten. Detta gjordes för att kunna hitta spår av hur de olika gravfältens representativa by-samhällena kan ha återspeglats. Detta gjordes genom att identifiera skillnader mellan respektive gravfält och därefter diskutera vad skillnaderna kan representera. Jag ville veta om det handlar om olikheter mellan sex skilda byar som begravt sina döda eller beror olikheten på sociala skillnader inom byarna? Resultatet visade på att det förekommer ett varierande och komplext gravstruktur där vissa av gravarna kan ha representerat olika gårdar inom byarna, medan vissa av gravarna representerades som högstatusgravar och religiösa/rituella gravar. De olika gravfälten visade även på att de representerade egna närbelägna byar.

代麗鵑. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-276) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Dai Lijuan.