Florent Rivals, Armelle Gardeisen & Jean CantuelJournal of Archaeological Science 38.3 (March 2011): 528-537.
The objective for this study is to explore interspecific variations in domestic and wild ungulate diets and management at the Neolithic site of Kouphovouno (Sparta, southern Greece). We tested four hypotheses related to environmental context and livestock management using, for the first time, a combination of mesowear and microwear analyses on a Neolithic site.
Lisa-Marie Shillito, Ian D. Bull, Wendy Matthews, Matthew J. Almond, James M. Williams & Richard P. EvershedJournal of Archaeological Science 38.8 (August 2011): 1869-1877.
Suspected coprolites from midden, burial and room fill contexts at Çatalhöyük were analysed by GC/MS and thin section micromorphology. Assessment of sterol biomarkers enabled a distinction between faecal and non-faecal sources for the deposits to be made, with bile acid biomarkers indicating that many of the faecal deposits are human coprolites.
Bonnie Glencross & Sabrina C. AgarwalJournal of Archaeological Science 38.3 (March 2011): 513-521.
Bioarchaeologists have conducted numerous studies on human skeletal remains using metacarpal cortical bone radiogrammetry. This method allows cortical thickness of the second metacarpal to be quantified. As a sensitive index of bone health metacarpal cortical thickness is evaluated in the context of functional adaptations, growth, ageing and bone loss in osteoporosis, as well as used as a reliable indicator of fracture risk.
Eleftheria PaliouOxford Journal of Archaeology 30.3 (August 2011): 247-272.
This paper aims to contribute to the discussion of the social functions of Aegean wall painting, by examining the communicative impact and possible socio-symbolic significance of Theran murals in the urban landscape of Late Bronze Age Akrotiri (Thera, Greece). It uses a novel method of computational analysis to investigate the visibility of mural painting in the prehistoric townscape which combines the functionalities of 3D modelling and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Colin Renfrew & Evi MargaritisCurrent World Archaeology 48 (2011): 46-50.
In his 1972 book 'The Emergence of Civilisation', Colin Renfrew argued that olive cultivation played an important role in this development. Now, new research by Evi Margaritis and Mim Bower at the British School at Athens and the McDonald Institute, University of Cambridge, suggest the proof was grown on Crete.
T. Novikova, G.A. Papadopoulos & F.W. McCoyGeophysical Journal International 186 (2011): 665–680.
Tsunami generated by the Late Bronze Age (LBA) eruption of Thera were simulated using synthetic tide records produced for selected nearshore (∼20 m depths) sites of northern Crete, the Cyclades Islands, SW Turkey and Sicily. Inundation distances inland were also calculated along northern Crete. Modelling was performed by incorporating fully non-linear Boussinesq wave theory with two tsunamigenic mechanisms.
J. Weingarten, S. Macveagh Thorne, M. Prent & J.H. CrouwelOxford Journal of Archaeology 30.2 (May 2011): 131–163.
In 2002, excavations conducted by the University of Amsterdam at the acropolis site of Geraki (Laconia) revealed a storage room attached to the EH II defensive wall, apparently a casemate built into that wall. Along with pottery and abundant destruction debris were many fragments of clay sealings, some stamped with seal impressions.
The use of red ochre in the prehistoric architecture of Central Anatolia has long been recognized. Scholars have often argued that its use in architecture has a symbolic role, and that it has been used in sacred parts of ritual buildings. This paper examines red-painted buildings in the prehistoric settlements of Central Anatolia.
Eric H. Cline, Assaf Yasur-Landau & Nurith GoshenAmerican Journal of Archaeology 115.2 (2011): 245-261.
During the 2008 and 2009 excavations at Tel Kabri, more than 100 new fragments of wall and floor plaster were uncovered. Approximately 60 are painted, probably belonging to a second Aegean-style wall fresco with figural representations and a second Aegean-style painted floor.
Timothy EarleAmerican Journal of Archaeology 115.2 (2011): 237-244.
Whether the Bronze Age Aegean economies can be described as “redistributive” depends on how one defines the term. The concept of redistribution itself has undergone several decades of critical archaeological analysis, much of it stemming from my early work in Polynesia.
Paul HalsteadAmerican Journal of Archaeology 115.2 (2011): 229-235.
Nakassis et al., in their contribution to this Forum, argue that the term “redistribution” has been used with a range of meanings in the context of the Aegean Bronze Age and so obscures rather than illuminates the emergence and functioning of political economies.
Robert SchonAmerican Journal of Archaeology115.2 (2011): 219-227.
Rather than treating redistribution as an undifferentiated economic function, scholars currently recognize that multiple forms may occur simultaneously. In this Forum Article, I focus on one such form in detail, specifically, the redistributive system that financed the production of prestige goods at the Palace of Nestor at Pylos. I employ the manufacture of chariots, perfumed oils, and textiles as case studies.
Susan LupackAmerican Journal of Archaeology115.2 (2011): 207-217.
The Linear B offering tablets at first seem to indicate that Mycenaean palaces engaged in a form of redistribution with respect to the religious sphere. That the palace sent offerings caused many scholars to assume the religious sector was dependent on the palaces for its daily maintenance.
Kostis S. ChristakisAmerican Journal of Archaeology115.2 (2011): 197-205.
Palatial authorities in Bronze Age Crete traditionally are thought to have functioned as centralized redistributive agents, reallocating wealth to the community as a whole and providing security in times of crisis. These institutions were gradually transformed, however, into mobilizers of wealth, rendering support exclusively to the elite and their associates.
Daniel J. PullenAmerican Journal of Archaeology115.2 (2011): 185-195.
This article examines redistribution as formulated by scholars of the later Mycenaean palatial economies to ascertain its applicability to the Early Bronze Age (EBA) mainland. Lacking textual sources in the EBA, the emphasis is on archaeological correlates of redistribution as both a mode of transaction and as an institution.
