An Archaeological Experiment to Reconstruct a Compound Bow of the Sintashta Culture Stepnoe Burial Ground

The article presents data from an international experimental study on the reconstruction of the Sintashta culture compound bow. The project is carried out by a collective of researchers from Russia and Greece as part of the grant program of the international association of experimental archeology EXARC. The high role of long-range weapons in the life of the Sintashta society has been repeatedly noted by researchers. The production processes that directly affect the practice of using weapons, as well as the issues of the evolution of weapons, are poorly understood. A complex of horn parts from barrow 4, pit 13 of Stepnoe burial ground (Chelyabinsk region) was chosen as the object for the reconstruction of the Sintashta bow as the most constructively interesting examples. For a reliable interpretation of this category of artifacts, the authors reviewed the global context of the design features of finds of the Bronze Age bows. Analysis of the materials revealed evolutionary trends in the development of long-range weapons, as well as localizing various traditions. Based on experimental studies, the project participants obtained the first conclusions about possible design solutions and the practice of using ancient weapons. Full-scale modeling allowed us to conclude that the Sintashta bow was a hybrid type of long bow, compound type. This type of bow is unique and may reflect the combination of the “steppe” and “european” traditions of the manufacture of long-range weapons. The article is intended to show the main types of bow construction of the Bronze Age and to determine the place of the Sintashta materials in this context, as well as to present the variants of experimental solutions for bow modeling.

The conquest of the dark spaces: An experimental approach to lighting systems in Paleolithic caves

Artificial lighting was a crucial physical resource for expanding complex social and economic behavior in Paleolithic groups. Furthermore, the control of fire allowed the development of the first symbolic behavior in deep caves, around 176 ky BP. These activities would increase during the Upper Paleolithic, when lighting residues proliferated at these sites. The physical peculiarities of Paleolithic lighting resources are very poorly understood, although this is a key aspect for the study of human activity within caves and other dark contexts. In this work, we characterize the main Paleolithic lighting systems (e.g., wooden torches, portable fat lamps, and fireplaces) through empirical observations and experimental archeology in an endokarstic context. Furthermore, each lighting system’s characteristic combustion residues were identified to achieve a better identification for the archaeological record. The experiments are based on an exhaustive review of archaeological information about this topic. Besides, we apply the estimated luminous data of a Paleolithic cave with Paleolithic art (Atxurra in northern Spain) in 3D through GIS technology to delve into the archeologic implications of illumination in Paleolithic underground activities.

Conceptual approach to the development of thematic areas of the archaeological «Kultobe settlement» park

The article studies the features of conceptual approach to the development of thematic areas based on the archaeological «Kultobe Settlement» park. Archeological monument «Kultobe Settlement» is based in buffer zone of the mausoleum of Khodja Ahmed Yasawi. This monument is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The base area of the archaeological park is 27 hectares. The territory of the settlement shows the city’s life in the context of four main historical periods. The ancient period dating from I-II centuries AD, early medieval, dating from the VI-X centuries, the medieval period of the XI-XII centuries – era of K.A. Yasawi and the late medieval period (XVI-XIX centuries) the period of the Kazakh In total, more than 50 archaeological sites of different eras are concentrated here: from the oldest cult settlement of the Kangju to the buildings of the Kazakh khanate. It was the beginning of the idea of creating an archaeological open-air park. The author of this article shows some design aspects of the «Kultobe Settlement» park, which implements an integrated approach added to the museumification of open-air objects, the development of «scientific reconstructions» products of experimental archeology, a museum exposition on the ancient and medieval history of Turkistan and prepared for tourism archaeological sites where excavations are in real

Decarbonizing Technique for Casting Iron to Make Wrought Iron Products in Northern Kyushu during the Yayoi Period

Iron furnaces first appeared in western Japan at the end of the Middle Yayoi period, around the 1st century BC. At the same time, iron tools and weapons started to be produced in western Japan using iron raw materials imported from the continent. We discovered the first ever iron furnace that had been constructed on the surface with a clay wall and bellows at Karakami Site, Iki Island, Nagasaki Prefecture. At this site, flat iron and fragments of casting iron were found along with a large quantity of stone tools related to the site. Given the different structure of the furnace on the surface with the bellows along with the lack of iron slag and cut iron fragments, it is probable that this type of furnace was used for the production of wrought iron by decarbonizing from cast iron. This decarbonizing technique of making wrought iron from cast iron has been successfully demonstrated through experimental archeology. When comparing the forms of flat iron found in northern Kyushu during the Yayoi period, the same forms of flat iron are only found in the Itoshima area or lower Onga River area, but not in the Fukuoka Plains. In addition, pottery from the Itoshima area and lower Onga River area of the Middle Yayoi period is found at Karakami Site, although pottery from the Fukuoka Plains has not been found at this site through petrologic analysis. Therefore, it is believed that flat iron from wrought iron ingots produced by decarbonizing from cast iron in furnaces on the surface was exported from Karakami Site to the Itoshima area or the lower Ongagawa area. On the other hand, there was no trading of wrought iron ingots between Karakami Site of Iki Island and the Na area of the Fukuoka Plains.

Did They Really Wear That? Authenticity and the Construction of Historical Dress-ups

An experimental archeology framework was used to examine the construction of historical dress-ups at a selection of historic house museums in the southwest of England. Of the twenty properties within the study area, thirteen were found to have dress-up installations with volunteers most commonly constructing the garments. Forty-eight dress-ups from six properties were then selected for further investigation. All of these garments were found to have made only limited reference to archeological and historical evidence in their construction. This then distorted their ability to authentically represent clothing from the past. Using these results, the challenges surrounding historical dress-ups will be explored and a new set of practical guidelines for their construction will be proposed.

Isolation and characterization of live yeast cells from ancient vessels as a tool in bio-archeology

Ancient fermented food has been studied based on recipes, residue analysis and ancient-DNA techniques and reconstructed using modern domesticated yeast. Here, we present a novel approach. We hypothesize that enriched yeast populations in fermented beverages could have become the dominant species in storage vessels and the descendants of these yeast could be isolated and studied long after. To this end, using a pipeline of yeast isolation from clay vessels developed here, we screened for yeast cells in beverage-related and non-related ancient vessels and sediments, from several archeological sites. We found that yeast cells could be successfully isolated specifically from clay containers of fermented beverages. Genomic analysis revealed that these yeast are similar to those found in traditional African beverages. Phenotypically, they grow similar to modern-beer producing yeast. Both strongly suggesting that they are descendants of the original fermenting yeast. These findings provide modern microorganisms as a new tool in bio-archeology.ImportanceSo far, most of the study of ancient organisms was based mainly on the analysis of ancient DNA. Here we show that it is possible to isolate and study microorganisms, yeast in this case, from thousands of years old clay vessels, used for fermentation. We demonstrate that it is highly likely that these cells are descendants of the original yeast strains which participated in the fermentation process and were absorbed into the pottery vessels. Moreover, we characterize the isolated yeast their genome and the beer they produce. These results open new and exciting avenues in the study of domesticated microorganisms and contribute significantly to the fields of bio and experimental –archeology that aims to reconstruct ancient artifacts and products.

Identifying the chaîne opératoire of prehistoric clay figurines using experimental archeology and imaging methods

This paper reports the use of experimental archaeology and imaging methods—X-ray computed tomography (CT) and radiography—that were employed to decipher the manufacturing techniques of Eneolithic clay artefacts. This study was triggered by the archaeological research conducted in some tell settlements in Southeastern Romania that belong to the Kodjadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI culture (c. 4500–3900 BC). The findings reported here represent the first accounts of a recently started research project, which has as its main goal the re-creation of Eneolithic clay artefacts and the identification of the chaîne opératoire used for manufacturing these objects. In particular, X-ray imaging techniques were used as complementary methods to help understand the structure of intact Eneolithic artefacts. In a subsequent step of this research, these techniques will be employed to check for similarities between the archaeological items and modern pottery replicas created in experimental archaeology workshops.