The Mouse, Endemic Rodents and Human Settlement in the Canary Islands

Interaction in Context: Interaction Models, Egypt and the Canaanite Periphery, Thomas E. Levy and Edwin C.M. van den Brink The Socio-Political Dynamics of Egyptian-Canaanite Interaction in the Early Bronze Age, Pierre de Miroschedji The Relative Chronological Position of Egyptian Predynastic and Early Dynastic Tombs with Objects Imported from the Near East and the Nature of Interregional Contacts, Stan Hendrickx and Laurent Bavay. Geoarchaeology and Biological Considerations: Geoarchaeological Implications of Recent Research in the Nile Delta, Karl W. Butzer Configuration of the Egypt-to-Canaan Coastal Margin and North Sinai Byway in the Bronze Age, Daniel J. Stanley The Paleo-Biological Evidence for Admixture Between Populations in the Southern Levant and Egypt in the 4th-3rd Millennium BCE, Patricia Smith Egyptian-Canaanite Interaction During the 4th and 3rd Millennium BCE - The Shell Connection, Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer. Chalcolithic Interaction: Competitive Involution and Expanded Horizons: Exploring the Nature of Interaction between Northern Negev and Lower Egypt (c. 4500-3600 B.C.E.), Catherine Commenge and David Alon Teleilat Ghassul - Foreign Relations in the Late Chalcolithic Period, S.J. Bourke, The Chronological Frame and Social Structure of Buto in the 4th Millennium BCE, Dina Faltings. Early Bronze Interaction: Egypt's First Sojourn in Canaan, Eliot Braun Ceramics, Identity and the Role of the State - The View from Nahal Tillah, Eric Kansa and Thomas E. Levy Egypt, Bet Yerah and Early Canaanite Urbanization, Rafi Greenberg and Emanuel Eisenberg. Metallurgical and Petrographic Studies: The Origins of the Metals Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean - Social Organization of Production in the Early Copper Industries, Jonathan Golden The Kfar Monash Hoard Again - A View from Egypt and Nubia, Miriam Tadmor. Petrography of the Naqada IIIa Canaanite Pottery from Tomb U-j in Abydos Naomi Porat and Yuvel Goren Early Bronze I, Predynastic and Eary Dynastic Primary Data: The Ceramic Assemblage from Tel Ma'ahaz, Stratum I (Seasons 1975-1976), Ruth Amiran and Edwin C.M. van den Brink Core-Periphery Interaction Between the Pristine Egyptian Nagada IIIb State, Late Early Bronze Age I Canaan and Terminal A-Group Lower Nubia - More Data , Ram Gophna and Edwin C.M. van den Brink The Egyptian Presence at the End of the Late Early Bronze Age I at the Tel of Lod, Central Coastal Plain, Israel, Edwin C.M. van den Brink Egyptian Pottery from Samll Tel Malhata and the Interrelations Between the Egyptian 'Colony' in Southwest Palestine and the 'Canaanite' Arad Basin and Central Highlands, Ornit Ilan Egyptian-Transjordanian Interaction During Predynastic and Protodynastic Times - The Evidence from Tell Abu al-Kharaz, Jordan Valley, Peter Fischer Imported Finds from the 'Ein Assawir Tombs, Israel, and their Significance in Understanding the Chronological Synchronization Between Israel, Egypt and Eastern Anatolia, Eli Yannai. (Part contents)

Evolution of vertebrate endemics in oceanic islands follows a predictable pattern, known as the island rule, according to which gigantism arises in originally small-sized species and dwarfism in large ones. Species of extinct insular giant rodents are known from all over the world. In the Canary Islands, two examples of giant rats, †Canariomys bravoi and †Canariomys tamarani, endemic to Tenerife and Gran Canaria, respectively, disappeared soon after human settlement. The highly derived morphological features of these insular endemic rodents hamper the reconstruction of their evolutionary histories. We have retrieved partial nuclear and mitochondrial data from †C. bravoi and used this information to explore its evolutionary affinities. The resulting dated phylogeny confidently places †C. bravoi within the African grass rat clade (Arvicanthis niloticus). The estimated divergence time, 650 000 years ago (95% higher posterior densities: 373 000–944 000), points toward an island colonization during the Günz–Mindel interglacial stage. †Canariomys bravoi ancestors would have reached the island via passive rafting and then underwent a yearly increase of mean body mass calculated between 0.0015 g and 0.0023 g; this corresponds to fast evolutionary rates (in darwins (d), ranging from 7.09 d to 2.78 d) that are well above those observed for non-insular mammals.

This paper investigates agricultural practices during the 1st millennium BCE in Greece. New archaeobotanical data provide fresh insights on the plant economy at the urban centers of Sikyon and Olynthos, dated to the Archaic-Classical period. The results show that the staple economy of Sikyon and Olynthos was based on a broad spectrum. However, the analysis records the presence of taxa such as sesame (Sesamum indicum) and pine (Pinus pinea) that are usually absent in assemblages from Greece. In order to understand the role and the place of these sites within the ancient Greek world, we draw a wider comparison of the ubiquity of the main economic taxa using available archaeobotanical records, covering the Protogeometric period to the end of the Hellenistic period. This paper gives an overview of plants exploited during the 1st millennium BCE and also focuses on the unusual remains recently recovered.

ABSTRACTThis paper presents the results of a pilot study that combines findings from satellite remote sensing analyses and an intensive interdisciplinary survey conducted in November 2021 on kurgans along the Kurekçay Valley, in western Azerbaijan. Through the integration of various methods, including historical and contemporary satellite and aerial imagery analysis, topographic mapping and geophysical prospections, this research remotely maps and quantifies the density, size, morphology and distribution of the burial mounds in the area. Unlike previous studies focusing solely on individual burial mounds, this investigation adopts a broader approach by contextualizing the kurgans within their respective landscapes. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of the physical and symbolic aspects and relationships of these structures, providing valuable insights into the enduring burial practices that shaped the funerary traditions of the Southern Caucasus during the 4th and 1st millennium BCE. Furthermore, this approach supports an assessment of the condition of the individual kurgans, thereby opening new perspectives to develop innovative plans to protect these burial mounds and their settings.

Biological history of an Italian prehistoric community and the population of the central Italy during the 1st millennium BCE.

The highlands of Iran, with their rich mineral resources, are known as one of the hotspots of early metallurgy. Following a long gap in archaeological research after 1979, the work carried out since 2000 has made possible to gain a more detailed understanding of the early steps of metal exploitation and usage in Iran. The new investigations enable us to trace a technological development that begins with hammering and annealing of copper in the Neolithic period, proceeds with small-scale smelting and casting during the 5th millennium BCE, and from the early 4th millennium on evolves into an advanced copper and silver metallurgy whose products circulate widely and supply consumers in the lowlands of Khuzestan and probably Mesopotamia. The foundation of the first urban sites in the late 4th millennium BCE correlates with a quantum leap in metallurgical technology that became possible through the introduction of updraft furnaces. From that moment onwards, we can also observe experimentation in the production of various alloys such as arsenic copper. Surprisingly, tin bronze is introduced to highland Iran only in the 2nd millennium BCE. Raw materials for the metal industry were in the beginning native metals. The mining areas, which are widely known in Iran, can rarely be dated, therefore to establish the beginning of opencast and underground mine exploitation remains a problem; however, at the latest from the Bronze Age onwards, underground shafts were used to obtain the desired materials. New research has provided robust data that afford a more precise chronological but also geographical distinction between the various strands of development, which differ according to regional “schools”. Long-distance exchanges of knowledge and objects only occur from the late 4th millennium BCE onwards with the inclusion of the Iranian highlands into a network of urban sites. Both the early development of metallurgy in Iran and its subsequent developments have to be understood in their particular historical setting of political alliances and avoidances. Until the Iron Age, shifting political constellations determine the accessibility and distribution of raw materials and products in Iran and beyond.

We used logistic and Poisson regression models to determine factors of forest and landscape structure that influence the presence and abundance of rodent species in the rain forest of Ranomafana National Park in southeastern Madagascar. Rodents were collected using live-traps along a gradient of human disturbance. All five endemic rodent species (Nesomys rufus, N. audeberti, Eliurus tanala, E. minor and E. webbi) and the introduced rat Rattus rattus were captured in both secondary and primary forests, but the introduced Mus musculus was only trapped in secondary forest. The abundance of R. rattus increased with the level of habitat disturbance, and it was most common in the heavily logged secondary forest. Furthermore, the probability of the presence of R. rattus increased with decreasing distance from forest edge and decreasing canopy cover, while the probability of presence increased with increasing herbaceous cover, altitude and overstory tree height. The species was never observed farther than 500 m away from human habitation or camp-site. N. rufus prefered selectively-logged forest at altitudes above 900 m a.s.l. Its probability of presence increased with increasing canopy cover, herbaceous cover and distance from forest edge, and with decreasing density of fallen logs, overstory tree height and distance from human habitation. N. audeberti prefered heavily-logged areas, while E. tanala was the only species occurring along the entire range of forest disturbance. We suggest that in the Ranomafana National Park the spread of R. rattus is associated with deforestation.

The impact of climate change upon intestinal parasites in central Europe during the 4th millennium BCE

The Phoenicians are the population of ancient Lebanon during the first millennium bce. However, Phoenician settlement was also located on the coast of modern Syria and Israel. The Phoenicians were not immigrants and developed out of the local Bronze Age populations of the second millennium bce. Some scholars do not distinguish the Late Bronze Age (1550–1150 bce) city-states of Lebanon from those of the Phoenicians in the Iron Age of the 1st millennium bce. Rather than defining “Phoenicia” with ethnic features, the approach chosen here emphasizes aspects of the political economy. With the sociopolitical changes at the end of the Late Bronze Age, new communities emerged with a specific pattern of social and political organization and economic activities that increasingly included “private” entrepreneurial initiatives. With these developments, a new form of Levantine city-state emerged from previous Bronze Age formations. Another specific feature of the Phoenician phenomenon is the development of an alphabetic writing that had significant influence on ancient scripts of the first millennium bce, such as Hebrew, Aramaic, or ancient Greek writing. This bibliography focuses on the archaeology of the Phoenician homeland in the Levant during the Iron Age and the Persian period (c. 1150–330 bce). Scholars have repeatedly investigated the problem of defining the Phoenicians—if this is at all possible. The appellation “Phoenicians” originates in ancient Greek views and does not represent the self-definition of “Phoenicians” themselves, who preferred to identify themselves with their urban communities, such as “man of Tyre” or “woman of Arwad.” The unprecedented rise of the Phoenician economy after the ninth century bce had a significant impact on social and cultural changes in the Levant and the Mediterranean. Phoenician material culture appeared in all the neighboring economies of Phoenicia and led eventually to a colonization in the western Mediterranean. However one wants to define the Phoenicians, they were among the principal agents of an early globalization of the Mediterranean and the ancient Near East.

The use and socio-environmental importance of fruits dramatically changed after the emergence of arboriculture and fruit domestication in the eastern Mediterranean, between the 5th and the 3rd millennia BCE. Domesticated fruits together with cultivation techniques apparently reached the western Mediterranean via colonial activities during the 1st millennium BCE – early 1st millennium CE. However, the pace and chronology of this diffusion as well as the recompositions in diversity, to adapt to new socio-environmental conditions, remain poorly known. In this study we investigate archaeobotanical records in Southern France from the Neolithic to the end of the Roman empire (ca. 5,800 BCE – 500 CE) to assess changes in fruit use as well as the emergence, spread and evolution of fruit cultivation. We explore changes in native traditions faced with innovations brought by Mediterranean colonization and how domesticated fruit cultivation spread from the Mediterranean to more temperate areas. Archaeobotanical data from 577 assemblages were systematically analyzed distinguishing two datasets according to preservation of plant remains (charred vs. uncharred), as this impacts on the quantity and diversity of taxa. The 47 fruit taxa identified were organized in broad categories according to their status and origin: exotic, allochtonous cultivated, indigenous cultivated, wild native. We also analyzed diversity, quantity of fruits compared to the total of economic plants and spatio-temporal variations in the composition of fruit assemblages using correspondence factor analyses. Archaeobotanical data reflect variations and continuities in the diversity of species used through time and space. In the Mediterranean area, significant changes related to the arrival of new plants and development of fruit cultivation occurred mainly, first during the Iron Age (6th-5th c. BCE), then in the beginning of the Roman period. Large cities played a major role in this process. In agreement with archeological information, archaeobotanical data reveal the predominance of viticulture in both periods. However, arboriculture also included other fruit species that have been subject to less intensive and specialized cultivation practices. Most significantly, this study pinpoints the continuous contribution of native, supposedly wild fruits throughout the chronology. Despite the homogenizing Roman influence, results reveal clear differences between the Mediterranean and temperate regions.

Millet consumption in south Xinjiang during the 1st millennium BCE: Isotopic evidence from bone bioapatite at the Ji'erzankale site

The <em>Corpus of the Epigraphy of the Italian Peninsula in the 1st Millennium BCE</em> (CEIPoM) is a linguistic database which covers the Oscan, Umbrian, Old Sabellic, Messapic and Venetic languages, as well as epigraphic Latin up to 100 BCE. The database is hosted on GitHub and Zenodo, and provides manually annotated linguistic information on all levels of language structure, ranging from phonology to syntax. In providing a high-resolution digital dataset for language varieties that have until now been largely restricted to printed reference works, this corpus opens up new avenues for research into this unique ancient linguistic area.

This research deals with the modes of chert exploitation in Sardinia during the Neolithic, combining information on major chert sources identified across the island with the technological analysis on several stratigraphic reliable series. It focuses on the changes in raw material selection and on the evolution of technological behaviours between the 6th and the 4th millennium BCE. The data collected in this work allowed us either to shed a light on the role this lithic resource played in the production systems of Neolithic communities in Sardinia, and to catch differences in the modes of procurement, depending on the chronology and location of the sites. During the Early Neolithic, lithic raw material circulation in Sardinia did not occur through organized networks, but it seems to have relied on the high mobility of the local groups. It is only at the end of the 5th millennium BCE that well-organized exchange circuits started operating. These involved mainly obsidian and this raw material apparently consolidated in time, due to the role carried out by San Ciriaco and Ozieri Middle to Late Neolithic cultures in the control and development of the Monte Arci obsidian supply. Chert was never involved in these networks and was mainly exploited locally and opportunistically. However, from the end of the Neolithic, some outcrop in the Oligo-Miocene basin of Perfugas was exploited on a supra-local scale and for a relatively short period.

The study of the commercial and cultural connections between the Greater Indus Valley and other regions of Central and Western Asia occupies a pivotal role in scholarly research on the Indus Tradition. Interregional trade was already established in the Indus River basin during the Neolithic period in the 6th millennium BCE. However, from the early 3rd millennium bce, the Indus (Harappan) merchants and craftspeople contributed to defining, promoting, and regulating long-distance, cross-cultural trade exchanges throughout this region. Indus-type and Indus-related artifacts have been found over a large and differentiated ecumene, encompassing Central Asia, the Iranian Plateau, Mesopotamia and the northern Levant, the Persian Gulf, and the Oman Peninsula. The discovery of Indus trade tools (seals, weights, and containers) in all of Middle Asia, complemented by information from Mesopotamian cuneiform texts, shows that entrepreneurs from the Indus Valley regularly ventured into these regions to transact with the local socioeconomic and political entities. However, Indus artifacts were also exchanged beyond this core region, eventually reaching as far as the Nile Valley, Anatolia, and the Caucasus. In contrast, only a handful of exotic trade tools and commodities have been found at sites in the Greater Indus Valley. The success of Indus trade in Central and Western Asia did not depend solely on the dynamic entrepreneurialism of Indus merchants and the exotic commodities they offered. Specific products were proactively designed and manufactured in the Indus Valley to fulfill the particular needs of foreign markets, and Indus craftspeople moved beyond their native cultural sphere, adapting their distinctive productions to the tastes of foreign elites or reworking indigenous models. The adoption of specific seals and iconographies to regulate external trade activities suggests a conscious attempt to implement a coordinated supraregional marketing strategy adopting shared rules and procedures, with observable globalizing impacts in various contexts of Central and Western Asia.

These three volumes, along with the forthcoming Volume 2D, the catalogue of metal and metal-related finds, present the results of a thorough, detailed study of the metals recovered during archaeological investigations in 1974 and 1975 at the village of Ban Chiang and three smaller sites in the northern part of northeast Thailand. At a time when little was known of Southeast Asian prehistory, the finding of very elaborately painted earthenware pottery vessels, probably prehistoric, at Ban Chiang stirred the interest not only of archaeologists, but also, unfortunately, from the standpoint of scientific investigation of the past, that of looters, dealers, and collectors of antiquarian art. In order to recover a sample of these vessels in their original depositional context, the Thailand Fine Arts Department and the University of Pennsylvania undertook one of the largest excavations of a prehistoric site carried out in Southeast Asia at the time. What subsequently caused added excitement in the media and the scientific community was the recovery of artefacts of iron that appeared to date to the second millennium BCE and of copper or bronze associated with dates in the fourth millennium BCE, perhaps as early as 3600 BCE, seeming to confirm similar early dates for bronze working from the nearby site of Non Nok Tha. Such early dates suggested the possibility of an independent development of metallurgy in Southeast Asia. Because of the importance of the excavation at Ban Chiang as a milestone in Thai and Southeast Asian archaeology, the site was later placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.