Yes / This paper revisits the series of disarticulated human remains discovered during the 1980s excavations of the Cnip wheelhouse complex in Lewis. Four fragments of human bone, including two worked cranial fragments, were originally dated to the 1st centuries BC/AD based on stratigraphic association. Osteoarchaeological reanalysis and AMS dating now provide a broader cultural context for these remains and indicate that at least one adult cranium was brought to the site more than a thousand years after the death of the individual to whom it had belonged.

Yes / The Iron Age in Europe was a period of tremendous cultural dynamism, during which the values and constructs of urbanised Mediterranean civilisations clashed with alternative webs of identity in ‘barbarian’ temperate Europe. Until recently archaeologists and ancient historians have tended to view the cultural identities of Iron Age Europeans as essentially monolithic (Romans, Greeks, Celts, Illyrians etc). Dominant narratives have been concerned with the supposed origins and spread of peoples, like ‘the Celts’ (e.g. COLLIS 2003), and their subsequent ‘Hellenisation’ or ‘Romanisation’ through encounters with neighbouring societies. Yet there is little to suggest that collective identity in this period was exclusively or predominantly ethnic, national or even tribal. Instead we need to examine the impact of cultural encounters at the more local level of the individual, kin-group or lineage, exploring identity as a more dynamic, layered construct. / HERA, European Commission

No / Over 150 years of research in the Circum-Alpine region have produced a vast amount of data on the lakeshore and wetland settlements found throughout the area. Particularly in the northern region, dendrochronological studies have provided highly accurate sequences of occupation, which have correlated, in turn, to palaeoclimatic reconstructions in the area. The result has been the general conclusion that the lake-dwelling tradition was governed by climatic factors, with communities abandoning the lakeshore during periods of inclement conditions, and returning when the climate was more favourable. Such a cyclical pattern occurred from the 4th millennium BC to 800 BC, at which time the lakeshores were abandoned and never extensively re-occupied. Was this final break with a long-lasting tradition solely the result of climatic fluctuation, or were cultural factors a more decisive influence for the decline of lake-dwelling occupation? Studies of material culture have shown that some of the Late Bronze Age lake-dwellings in the northern Alpine region were significant centres for the production and exchange of bronzework and manufactured products, linking northern Europe to the southern Alpine forelands and beyond. However, during the early Iron Age the former lake-dwelling region does not show such high levels of incorporation to long-distance exchange systems. Combining the evidence of material culture studies with occupation patterns and burial practices, this volume proposes an alternative to the climatically-driven models of lake-dwelling abandonment. This is not to say that climate change did not influence those communities, but that it was only one factor among many. More significantly, it was a combination of social choice to abandon the shore, and subsequent cultural developments that inhibited the full scale reoccupation of the lakes. / Swiss National Science Foundation

No

Yes / A key goal for archaeozoology is to define and characterise pastoral farming strategies. In the last decade, some of the most innovative approaches for addressing these questions have centered on the mammalian dentition, including inter alia sequential sampling of stable isotopes, dental microwear analysis and the study of dental pathologies. It is when these techniques are integrated and combined with more traditional approaches, such as tooth eruption and wear, however, that their full potential is realised. In this article we demonstrate how such an integrated dental analysis combining isotopes, microwear, dental development, dental pathologies, tooth eruption and wear can be used to elucidate changing pastoral practices and their impacts on the landscape from the Iron Age and Viking-Late Norse periods in the North Atlantic islands, a period of significant socio-economic and cultural change in this region. Analysis focuses on two case study sites, Mine Howe, dating to the Atlantic Middle Iron Age (MIA) and the Earls’ Bu, one of the residences of the Orkney Earl’s from the 10th to 13/14th centuries AD. Each of the techniques applied to the sheep/goat and cattle dentition identifies clear differences between the two sites, in diet, in culling season, herd health and stress levels, all of which point to potential differences in underlying husbandry practices. These are related to wider socio-economic developments in Orkney at these periods, specifically increasing control of pastoral resources and economic production by North Atlantic elites in the MIA and the emergence of manorial estates in Late Norse/Early Medieval Scandinavia. / AHRC PhD studentships; British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship (2014-5)

Yes / This paper presents a case study of a young infant, from a larger isotopic and osteological investigation of Bronze/Iron Age (14th-4th century BC) skeletal assemblages from Croatia and Slovenia. The osteological analysis of this infant identified pathological lesions including abnormal porosity and new bone formation consistent with malnutrition and phases of recovery. The distribution and appearance of these pathological lesions (i.e. diffuse micro-porosities and plaques of subperiosteal new bone formation on the skull and long bones) led to the conclusion that this infant probably suffered from scurvy (vitamin C deficiency). The diet and nitrogen balance of this individual were investigated by incremental dentine sampling and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis. This sampling method provided a high resolution record of dietary and metabolic changes from pre-birth to around the time of death. The resulting isotope data exhibited unusually high δ13C values for this region and time period (between -11.3‰ and -12.6‰), while δ15N values were observed to be c. 3‰ above that of rib collagen sampled from contemporary adults recovered from the same site. The isotope profiles generated from the incremental dentine analysis show that δ13C and especially δ15N continue to increase until death. The evidence from the skeletal remains and high resolution isotopic data support the hypothesis that this infant suffered from severe malnutrition and an increasingly negative nitrogen balance. The paper discusses some scenarios which could have resulted in these unusual isotope ratios, whilst considering the diagnosis of possible metabolic disease. The paper also addresses the need for context when interpreting isotopic results. The isotope data should not be viewed in isolation, but rather as part of a multidisciplinary approach, considering the multiple causes of isotopic variability.

Under vikingatiden och medeltiden hade Gotland förmodligen en omfattande tingsorganisation. För Banda ting har Suderting förmodats vara en tingsplats utmed Idån och Fjäle Myr som syntes vara betydelsefulla på Mejer’s 1600-tals karta. Vilken betydelse har våtmarker som Fjäle Myr och vattendrag som Idån haft för tingsorganisationen och kommunikationer i Banda ting under järnålder? Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka vattendrag och tingsgränser i Banda ting under järnålder, samt identifiera nätverk och kommunikationsleder. Uppsatsen har utifrån historiskt kartmaterial återskapat vattendrag, våtmarker och gränser. Samt använt rumsliga metodanalyser i GIS av fornlämningar i landskapet. Kommunikationsleder och gränser har studerats med ett teoretiskt ramverk att landskapet, i form av topografi, vattendrag och våtmarker, formar dessa. Resultatet av analysen visar att fornborgar har haft en viktig funktion i att försvara kommunikationsleder, även att nätverk och makt hänger ihop i en bredare tingsorganisation. Vattendrag och våtmarker som Fjäle Myr och Stormyr var farbara och utgjorde ett större kommunikationsnätverk. Samt att tingsgränser har en korrelation till vatten och är möjliga att återskapa med rumsliga analyser. / During the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Gotland likely had an extensive thing organization. Suderting is assumed to be the thing place for Banda, located along Idån and Fjäle Myr which appeared to be significant on Mejer's 17th century map. What significance did wetlands such as Fjäle Myr and waterways such as Idån have for the thing organization and communication during the Iron age in Banda ting? The purpose of this essay was to investigate waterways and boundaries in Banda ting during the Iron Age, also to identify network and communication routes. Based on historical map material, the essay has recreated watercourses, wetlands and borders. As well as used spatial method analyzes in GIS of ancient remains in the landscape. Communication routes and borders have been studied with a theoretical framework that the landscape shapes these in the form of topography, waterways and wetlands. The result of the analysis shows that hill forts have had an important function in defending communication routes, that network and power connect in a wider organization of things. Waterways and wetlands such as Fjäle Myr and Stormyr were navigable and formed a larger communication network. And that thing boundaries have a correlation to water and can be recreated with spatial analyses.

The Early Iron Age period has been underexplored in the archaeology of West Africa, particularly Nigeria. Also, there is a lack of research and knowledge on organic residue analysis in Nigeria, particularly in the southwestern region of the country, despite the fact that other studies on archaeobotany and paleoenvironmental studies are well established. To address this gap, lipid analysis was conducted on 10 vessels from the Early Iron Age (490 B.C. to A.D. 40) site BSM6 in Bara, Old Oyo, Nigeria. The analysis revealed the plant and animal materials consumed by the Early Iron Age community. These findings provide vital insights into the dietary and subsistence practices of the period, illustrating continuities and changes in food practices from ancient to present times.

This paper traces burials from Iron Age I Canaan that reflect an influence of Philistine culture. This influence can be measured by the presence of Philistine bichrome pottery or other evidence related to this ancient biblical people. A major road block to the clearest possible understanding of Philistine burials is that no cemeteries have been found at any of the earliest settlements of the biblical Philistines, the Pentapolis. The Old Testament lists these cities as Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza (e.g. Joshua 13:3). Though extensive excavation has been conducted at most of these sites, they have yet to yield a necropolis. Excavations are still being done at Tell es-Safi/Gath and Ashkelon, so hopefully the future will supply researchers with data to help clarify this rather vague area of Philistine studies. Recognizing these limitations, the paper presents a "symbiotic model," which identifies some of the areas of shared culture from the Canaanite context. Examples of this symbiosis are seen as the amalgamated result of people groups living in close proximity to each other and influencing the customs and practices of their neighbors. A Mycenaean origin of the Philistines is an underlying supposition of the research laid out in this paper. Because of this origin, and the other influences upon the early Philistine settlers in Canaan, a certain amount of cultural comparison becomes necessary to be able to understand the developing Philistine culture of Iron I. The paper includes a map of tombs and burials bearing Philistine influence and a map identifying different types of tombs and their locations. The variety of tomb types is an important facet of Philistine custom. The strong Egyptian influence upon Canaan and the surrounding area at that time in history is inescapable. Evidence of this influence will be explored. The inclusion of a chapter on the anthropoid clay coffins, and the Philistines' relationship to them, struggles with the scholarly interpretations. Finally, a chapter on literary implications strives to shed light on possible Philistine burial practices from the perspective of the Old Testament and other applicable literatures of the ancient Near East. / Old Testament / D. Th.

The study encompasses the reconstruction of the Iron Age sequence around the Limpopo River floodplain on Basinghall Farm during the second millennium AD. A survey uncovered 75 Iron Age sites, including three Moritsane and ten Toutswe facies sites for the Middle Iron Age and two Early Moloko, 16 Middle Moloko (Letsibogo facies) and 43 Late Moloko grain bin platform sites for the Late Iron Age. The local settlement sequence, which is based primarily on a ceramic analysis of surficial and excavated collections, is corroborated by radiocarbon dates, a glass bead sequence and comparative data from previous studies. The borders of the Toutswe chiefdom are shown to have extended 100 km to the south, while the Eiland sequence is refined to include an Eiland, a Moritsane and a redefined Broadhurst facies. New light is also shed on the local Moloko sequence and its correlation with historical Tswana groups in south-eastern Botswana. / Anthropology & Archaeology / M.A. (Archaeology)