The study presents a new approach for the investigation of ancient ferrous artefacts, by combining non-invasive and invasive techniques: neutron tomography, optical microscopy, and SEM-EDS, as applied to the objects from Saruq al-Hadid, U.A.E. It is revealed that despite the severe degradation of the objects, neutron tomography allows the detection of various features associated with the mechanisms of degradation and working (manufacturing, re-processing) of the ferrous artefacts including (1) different corrosion products and their specific distribution patterns; (2) surface dents from the use of hammers; and (3) various structural heterogeneities such as mineralised pierced holes, incised patterns, and ex-welding lines. The ex-welding lines present in every artefact have a major significance because they can be conveniently used for the investigation of the manufacturing techniques of the objects. The complementary invasive investigation via optical microscopy (OM) and SEM-EDS is used to relate the carburization patterns of the objects to their welding techniques, which are then associated with the patterns of variability of slag inclusion composition. The integrated data provide insight into the socio-technological aspects underlying the choices in the manufacturing of the Saruq al-Hadid objects, and broader aspects of early Iron Age iron-working in the ancient Near East.

High performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) is a powerful method for characterising modern fats and oils at the molecular level (triacylglycerols). It is a technique that should have great potential for the analysis of archaeological fatty residues. However, its archaeological potential has yet to be systematically evaluated. This paper presents the results of an HPLC-MS study of food residues adsorbed into archaeological ceramics. Experimentally three classes of materials were studied: raw plant and animal foods likely to be available to the prehistoric population of Anatolia (Turkey), the same foods after cooking and archaeological residues from Late Bronze and Early Iron Age (ca 1500–900 BCE) contexts from ceramics excavated at the site of Gordion, Central Turkey. Modern foods were used as a baseline; modern cooked residues provided a measure of the effects of cooking on the same fatty residues. These datasets were then compared to the HPLC-MS results for the archaeological residues. The study found that HPLC-MS does offer important new information, but does not provide a 'magic bullet'. Like established techniques using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, it is best used in tandem with other techniques in a multi-stranded approach to archaeological residue characterisation and identification.

Musée de la Cour d'Or, Metz, France, possesses a female skull bearing a gold wire dental appliance claimed in a 1934 Dental Cosmos article on the history of dental prosthetics to be 'probably' Merovingian in origin. Inquiries in 2017 revealed current museum curators were unaware of this claim but were skeptical of such dating, suggesting scientific analysis might provide clarity. Carbon dating of a tooth from the skull was performed placing the artifact in the mid seventeenth-late eighteenth centuries, while Metz historical records reveal the find site was occupied by a convent of nuns for most of C14 dated period. Strontium isotopic analysis indicated that the woman was a local of the Metz region while fluorine analysis indicated exposure to fluoride early in life. Oral health status and the dentistry indicate the woman was of high social status.

In this paper we compare the results of proton-induced X-ray and gamma-ray emission (PIXE/PIGE) and simultaneous inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) using a multivariate modeling approach. Paired samples from 17th century east Asian stoneware jars recovered from dated shipwrecks provide the test population. The comparison highlights similar elemental behaviors irrespective of technique but shows that the additional elements available through ICP-OES provide identification of subgroups not evident in the PIXE/PIGE dataset. This study concludes that high dimensional datasets, such as those provided by ICP-OES, are preferable for modeling compositional groups where the archaeological samples are of unknown compositional range. It also highlights the power of multivariate approaches in assessing the quality of data generated by different techniques.

Differing patterns of distribution from source of local and exotic artefacts have been used to set up and modify theories and models of hunter-gatherer social/political networks. Stone hatchets are useful for testing these theories because they do not decay in time. In this research pXRF technology was used to compare 242 hatchets found in south-east South Australia with known local basalt sources, and with distant sources from Central Victoria and Mount Isa. Chemical analysis determined that the great majority of hatchets came from unknown sources of similar, distinctive, stone which, unlike the local basalts, were very low in most elements from Rb to Nb in the periodic table. This majority was similar, but not a match, to stone from Mt William in central Victoria. From their distribution and frequency, this majority of hatchets was probably used as tools, but because they were found across three language areas, I conclude that they were also desirable exchange items. There was no apparent separation of useful and exchange hatchets, a difference from hunter-gatherer models which may have been a result of limited local stone sources. My research also determined that three hatchets found in SESA originated in Mount Isa, extending the distance that Mount Isa hatchets are known to have moved from Lake Eyre/Flinders Ranges to south-east South Australia. One of these was distinctively shaped, matching a type of hatchet known to have originated in Mount Isa. Another three hatchets were determined to have originated near Mt Macedon in central Victoria. These six exotic hatchets were distributed evenly across the three language areas, showing no area with a concentration of power of acquisition. I concluded that the distribution of SESA hatchets from source indicates a strong network between the three language groups, Ngarrindjeri, Bindjali and Buandig prior to European settlement, a network which was highly interactive, evenly spread across Buandig land and the southern areas of their neighbours, and with no evidence of dominance by one group in any language area.

Purpose Copper (Cu) is the earliest anthropogenic metal pollutant, but knowledge of Cu soil concentrations at ancient metalworking sites is limited. The objective of this work was to examine the ability of portable X-ray fluorescence to quantify Cu in soils at such sites. Materials and methods Using a Bruker Tracer III-SD pXRF, we examine factory "scan" settings versus simple instrument parameter changes (a reduction in energy settings from 40 to 12 kV) to target analysis for Cu. We apply these to a set of uncontaminated samples (n = 18, < 92 mg Cu kg-1) from Central Thailand and compare results to standard wet chemistry analysis (aqua regia digestion and ICP-OES analysis). We then apply the optimized method to a set of highly contaminated samples (n = 86, < 14,200 mg Cu kg-1) from a known ancient smelting site. Results and discussion We demonstrate that simple changes to factory recommended "scan" settings can double the sensitivity of Cu determination via pXRF ("optimized limit of determination" of 19.3 mg kg-1 versus an initial value of 39.4 mg kg-1) and dramatically improve the accuracy of analysis. Changes to other results for other elements are variable and depend on concentration ranges, soil matrix effects, and pXRF response for the individual element. We demonstrate that pXRF can accurately determine Cu across a wide concentration range and identify grossly contaminated soil samples. Conclusions We conclude that pXRF is a useful tool to rapidly screen and analyse samples at remote sites and can be applied to ancient metalworking sites. Simple optimization of the pXRF settings greatly improves accuracy and is essential in determining comparative background concentrations and "unaffected" areas. Application to other elements requires further element and matrix specific optimization.

Trajectories of social complexity following socio-political collapse have provided fertile ground for new theoretical and methodological perspectives in archaeology. Here we investigate ceramics from the site of Alişar Höyük, a settlement that was likely part of the Iron Age polity of Tabal. Best known from Assyrian texts, Tabal emerged in central Anatolia after the Late Bronze Age Hittite collapse, but its structure and operation remain enigmatic. Excavated in the 1920s and 1930s, a large sample of ceramics from Alişar has since been curated at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. Using multiple perspectives on this Middle Iron Age ceramic sample, we explore the political and economic structures at this site in terms of its interaction sphere. Our results suggest that if Alişar was part of Tabal, by the Middle Iron Age this polity was highly intra-regionally integrated, competitive and heterarchical.

Existing insights into the history of southeast Asian contacts with northern Australia prior to British colonization in 1788 are limited to Macassan visitors and the trepang industry beginning in the early 18th century and perhaps 16th century. Neither historical nor archaeological evidence indicate extension of such contacts to Torres Strait of northeast Australia. To shed further light on this issue, a collection of 16 Asian ceramic sherds surface collected and excavated recently from the islands of Pulu and Mabuyag in Torres Strait were compared to a large database of Southeast and East Asian stoneware jars that are well characterised, elementally, typologically and chronologically. This comparison matched a number of sherds with two jar types with likely production origins in Thailand and southern China. While the surface collected sherds from Pulu sourced to Thailand date probably to the 19th century, the small glazed sherd from Mabuyag island is typical of a southern Chinese decorated jar type dating to c. 1500-1600 C.E. This Chinese sherd is the earliest known Asian artefact in Australia and parallels recent archaeological evidence on the antiquity of contacts between Macassan trepangers and Aboriginal Australians. It is unknown if the Chinese sherd came ashore to Mabuyag through direct contact with Asian traders or from a nearby shipwreck through salvage.

Archaeological views of the Iron Age in inland Anatolia have been dominated by the two main polities that developed during the first millennium b.c.e. : Urartu in the east and Phrygia in the west. Our understanding of how these and other Iron Age societies developed in the aftermath of the Late Bronze Age Hittite collapse, how new polities emerged and forged new political and economic relations, however, is limited due to the rarity of excavated Early Iron Age sites in the region (Genz 2003 ; Grave et al. 2009 ; Kealhofer et al. 2009 , 2010). One of the keys for understanding Iron Age dynamics is the development of a regional chronological framework. Since 2000, each of the sites discussed here has produced new Iron Age dates, oft en substantially altering our interpretation of the relationships between sites, the rate of change within Iron Age societies, and the timing and scale of interaction (figure 18.1). Results from these excavations are beginning to define an exceptionally dynamic and volatile period of society building. However, constraints in the development of a high-resolution regional chronology (radiocarbon calibration plateaus, sampling issues) continue to challenge our ability to adequately map the dynamics of Iron Age societies. After describing the geographical context of the Anatolian plateau, we outline advances and constraints in the development of a regional chronological framework.