Hand depictions are among the most widespread motifs in global rock art, appearing from the Pleistocene to the present and often representing some of the earliest symbolic practices. At Cerro Azul and Paredones del Potrero in Amazonian Colombia, red handprints feature diverse decorations - including spirals, braided lines and geometric infill - whose production and significance remain little understood. This study presents the first detailed typological classification of thirteen decorated handprint types from these sites. Quantitative and spatial analyses are integrated with ethnographic and Indigenous perspectives, together with cross-cultural comparisons from regions including Brazil, Borneo and Australia, to explore how decorated hands may have functioned as embodied gestures, markers of identity and elements of cosmological landscapes. By combining fine-grained local documentation with a global comparative framework, the study demonstrates the potential of decorated handprints to illuminate the interplay of body, material and place in the creation of enduring social and symbolic relationships.
At the scale of the individual brick, adobe construction preserves a record of the decisions, labour, and political relationships through which it was made. This study compares Huaca Colorada and Tecapa, two neighbouring ceremonial centres in the Jequetepeque Valley, whose construction practices diverged markedly during the late Middle Horizon (600-1000 CE). Through morphological, grain-size, and pXRF analyses of over 1,600 bricks, distinct construction regimes emerge at each site: heterogeneous, inclusion-rich bricks and episodic building at Huaca Colorada reflect a decentralized process tied to ritual cycles and community labour, while standardized brick types and coordinated planning at Tecapa suggest a hierarchically organized regime consistent with highland building traditions. A discrete morphological and material convergence in Huaca Colorada's final phase, concentrated in the east-facing platform oriented towards Tecapa, is interpreted as evidence of inter-site political negotiation, registered in the dimensions, sediment makeup, and geochemistry of individual bricks.
Stone as a durable and symbolic material played a central role in the visual culture and social practices of Histrian communities during the last millennium BCE. This paper examines the fragmented stone sculpture from Nesactium (Croatia), focussing on its meaning, function and cultural context. Using the concepts of material agency and object biography, it shows how these monuments, in addition to their monumentality, structured space and belonging, shaped collective memory and social identities as well as ideological forms of expression and representation. Nesactium sculpture thus emerges as a visually articulated social practice with a multi-layered and multifunctional role within the community. Their production testifies to a high level of artisanship and strong links to the Italo-Adriatic cultural sphere.
This paper critically examines the ethical and epistemological challenges surrounding the treatment of non-skeletal human remains, specifically dental calculus and coprolites, in archaeological research. While these materials are increasingly targeted for biomolecular analysis, they are rarely afforded the same ethical scrutiny as skeletal remains. Current practices often prioritize molecular data at the expense of contextual, morphological or physical information, which has ethical implications both in terms of destruction of a finite archaeological record, and questions of ownership of genetic data. Drawing on broader debates in ancient DNA, the paper argues for a more equitable, interdisciplinary approach that integrates multiproxy and multivocal perspectives, and calls for the routine use of non-destructive documentation (e.g. 3D scanning, XR-CT), for both skeletal and non-skeletal human remains, prior to sampling. I argue that exuviae occupy a fluid category between person and object. By foregrounding the cultural significance of bodily exuviae and the finite nature of archaeological materials, the paper advocates for sustainable research practices that respect both scientific enquiry and cultural values.
This paper presents two unpublished petroglyph sites from Malag & oacute;n (La Mancha, inner Iberia) as case studies in the long-term cultural reuse and reinterpretation of prehistoric rock art. Through a diachronic-biographical approach that combines archaeological, historical, and ethnographic sources, our research has identified several graphic phases spanning from Late Prehistory to the 19th century. These include cup-marks, schematic motifs, inscriptions, Christian iconography, and modern imagery. Moreover, interviews with locals indicate that these sites have remained in use through to the present day. Consequently, both sites represent an ideal scenario to explore how different human communities have persistently engaged with these sites throughout millennia, attributing new meanings aligned with changing worldviews. Thus, rather than conceiving archaeological sites as static relics, the study emphasizes their dynamic role in the construction of collective memory and identity. Ultimately, all this supports the notion that integrating traditional knowledge into archaeological interpretation can result in a more inclusive and socially grounded approach to heritage preservation.
Shaped and carved stone is a fundamental component of the archaeological record from the Mesolithic period across the UK. Whilst flint is the central element of this archaeological record, there is also a significant non-flint lithic component to many British Mesolithic sites that has been somewhat understudied. Within Cornwall, south-west Britain, research into this non-flint lithic component, partially retrieved through innovative methods of whole 'earth' sampling of Mesolithic land-surfaces, has revealed a significant collection of Mesolithic carved stones. A selection of these stones is presented and consideration is given to whether these pieces were created from their use as tools or whether these pieces of stone have longer biographies, potentially eventually becoming mnemonic devices. Parallels are drawn to other Mesolithic carvings from across the UK, with some symbols such as the 'X's and parallel lines, evident over a wide area and across the long time period of the Mesolithic.This paper is dedicated to our dear friend and colleague Andy Jones.
The flourishing of sculptural series on orthostats, protomes and statues, which decorated the so-called Syro-Hittite city-state citadels, represents a unique phenomenon in stone production during the pre-classical period (12th-7th centuries BC) in the Syro-Anatolian region. Since the first discoveries of these sculptural cycles, archaeological and art-historical research has primarily focused on problems related to style, dating and production, mostly through an iconographic approach. However, the matter of the workshops (from quarrymen to sculptors) has not been fully explored, nor has the integration of geological aspects (such as the identification of quarries) and the production process. This article presents preliminary results from a broader project that addresses this issue through iconographic and petrographic analysis of basalt samples from sculptures found at Syro-Hittites sites. This study aims to introduce an interdisciplinary approach, seeking to bridge the existing gap between workshops, quarries and the Syro-Hittites political entities that commissioned these monumental artworks.
'Magical gems' form a specific corpus of the larger category of glyptic art from Graeco-Roman antiquity. Decorated in rich iconography and text, they are important markers of more personal forms of religious practice. This paper argues that it is not only their iconography or text which bestows them with their magical properties but also the process by which they are crafted. Through exploring methods of production and the relationship between carving, engraving, and mark making, this paper explores the thinking, cognition, and ritual action that may have been involved. The paper concludes that through a process of mark making, gems became actively charged agents, which embodied religious and magical properties. These, in turn, were mediated through visual and haptic encounters which were central to their use and ability to function.
This article presents the first quantitative analysis of the thermal performance of mud brick housing in Classical Greek cities. By integrating 3D architectural modelling with Rhinoceros 3D and the Ladybug and Honeybee environmental simulation toolsets, it introduces a novel methodological framework for studying ancient earthen architecture. Focusing on housing blocks at Olynthos, the study examines how architectural form, material properties, and house location shaped indoor climates. Results demonstrate that mud brick moderated temperature fluctuations, yet specific building forms and locations created perceptible differences in thermal comfort between rooms, storeys and house position within a city block. By moving beyond purely morphological or economic readings of domestic space, this research shows how earthen architecture shaped lived social experience and advances debates on the temporality of life, equality and standards of living in the Classical polis.
Iberian sculpture poses major interpretive challenges due to the frequent loss of primary archaeological contexts. Traditionally approached through typological and stylistic frameworks, these works are often recovered in secondary settings or have been reused, making their original functions difficult to determine. This article adopts a biographical and productive perspective, tracing Iberian carved stone from quarrying and carving to reuse and final deposition. By focusing on material processes and labour, rather than solely on form or symbolism, it reframes sculpture as a product embedded in social and economic relations. The paper also reflects on the interpretive consequences of context loss and transformation, contributing to broader discussions on the biography of carved stone and the challenges of reconstructing meaning from displaced materials.
The distinctive materiality (qualia) of fire can account for its near universal sacred status, including in past Andean societies. As a brilliant manifestation of destructive-creation, fire epitomizes a highly-motivated, non-arbitrary sign, thus explaining its intimate link with sacrifice, beginnings, endings, life, and empowering transformation. In the context of a select survey of global traditions, we mobilize a case study from the Moche temple of Huaca Colorada (700-900 CE) in the Jequetepeque Valley of northern Peru to demonstrate that fire served as an important medium in rituals of sacrificial consumption essential for metabolic creation and growth, and by extension, social and cosmic reproduction. The immolation of ceremonial constructions in rededication rites and the sacrifice and interment of individuals associated with intense burning events at the temple support this argument. We further contend that fire-based rites complemented pyro-technologies widely practiced at Huaca Colorada, and cooking and craft industries formed part of integrated religious liturgies. Ultimately, a comparison of Huaca Colorada with the neighbouring ceremonial centre of Huaca Dos Cruces (1000-1350 CE) reveals that despite fire's inherent material-semiotic properties, its meaning and ritual efficacy varied historically and appears to have changed in the post-Moche period in the Jequetepeque Valley.
Phoenician colonization brought significant cultural and environmental challenges for displaced groups across the Mediterranean Sea. Establishing new settlements required adapting Levantine practices to unfamiliar environments and raw materials. A paradigmatic example of such a community establishment occurred on the island of Ibiza (Balearic Islands, Spain), where a distinctive building tradition emerged, characterized by the use of mudbrick architecture. This paper presents a geoarchaeological study of earthen building materials from Eivissa, the principal site that flourished in the 7th century BC and has remained inhabited to the present day. Our methodology - combining archaeological analysis with geochemical and petrographic characterization - allows us to identify different raw material sources and construction recipes, reflecting how Phoenicians could have adapted to Ibiza's specific environmental conditions. The results shed light on the development of the island's mudbrick architecture and the probable challenges faced by Phoenician communities in preserving their traditional building techniques.
Western archaeology (and cultural-heritage-related disciplines) and reproductions have a long-standing relationship. As often happens with lasting liaison, this encompasses periods of both positive and negative reception, related to the issue of authenticity and to the state of reproductions as objects in themselves. Surprisingly, this debate never seemed to explicitly include reproductions of human remains, though substituting original human remains on display with replicas is a solution praised by many and is traditionally perceived as 'ethically issue-free'. In this paper, I investigate what happens when applying existing debates on reproductions to human remains while also analysing new ethical issues professionals encounter when settling for this solution. What position do replicas of human remains occupy in the spectrum of 'objects of science-lived lives'? Where do they stand, in the push towards Open Access? How do we address the need for originals? Are replicas free of the colonial burden that permeates some human remains?
For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Egypt's Theban necropolis (Luxor) was a living palimpsest where ancient tombs mingled with modern mudbrick homes. The Qurnawis, the modern inhabitants of the necropolis, adapted pharaonic tombs, using earthen architecture to convert them into functional living spaces. Shaped-earth cupboards, shelves, troughs, ovens, and dovecotes were constructed both inside and outside the tomb-houses. This paper presents unpublished data from the Spanish archaeological mission at Dra Abu el-Naga North (Djehuty Project), documenting the surviving examples of modern earthen architecture within the Middle and New Kingdom tombs (2030-1070 BCE). The modern earthen architecture is possibly a continuation of an ancient tradition of the inhabitants of the necropolis, and of Egypt. Today, these earthen structures are nearly extinct, having been demolished, or replaced. Understanding and protecting these features offers invaluable insights into the daily life of Egypt's modern inhabitants as well as their ancient counterparts.
One key theme running through human skeletal research from early studies in the 18th century to today is a focus on shape. Unfortunately, early research fell prey to racist ideas about human biology. But thankfully, over the last 100 years, there has been a refocus on how to interpret the shape of human bones and what we can learn from it. We now answer a variety of questions using shape, ranging from how and why certain anatomical traits evolved to constructing a biological profile of an individual. Advancements in the methods used to capture and analyse shape also enable archiving and sharing of large amounts of digital data. This paper reviews how shape has been used to study the human skeleton, outline advancements, and reflect on trajectories for future research. It also presents ethical considerations of shape analyses and open science within human skeletal research from a global perspective.
Stone funerary orbs with carved ornamentation, along with similarly decorated stones, but in the form of slabs, are a distinctive yet underexplored category of archaeological objects from Late Iron Age Sweden. These carved stones are originally found in burial contexts from the Migration Period (c. 400-550 CE) and at times early Vendel Period (c. 550-800 CE). In later centuries, they are known to have been removed from their original context, and re-used for other purposes. This paper discusses stone funerary orbs and slabs from the M & auml;lar Valley, south Sweden, and sheds light on their different object itineraries throughout time. In doing so, it focusses on the making of their ornamentation, and its (desired) affects and effects, as well as the possible qualities that were associated with the stone itself (e.g. form, colour, descent) and how these aspects may have played pivotal roles in their removal from burial contexts to new ontological realms.
DNA samples taken from prehistoric bones from Europe are now used to explain some of the complex social and cultural processes of the past. But data intensive research is changing how archaeologists think about identity, ancestry and social relations. In the age of big data, genomic information becomes detached from notions such as accountability or agency, indirectly placing biologic samples outside of the classic parameters of ethical discussions. The main events redefining such discussion are: (1) the rise of the information regime in capitalist societies (2) a redefinition of how we understand ancestry, roots, and identity in relation to old remains (3) biocapital- aDNA becomes a valued commodity, at the crossroads of technical expertise and biomedical research. Due to the economic value of aDNA data, the new biocapital, ethical concerns raised by academics will be subsumed to the market logic.
This paper examines the zoomorphic Iron Age sculptures commonly known as verracos, stone effigies of bulls, pigs and boars scattered across western and central Iberia. More than 450 examples are known, many very bulky, measuring over 2 m long and weighing between 3 and 8 tonnes. These sculptures were often placed in areas close to the oppida. The best pastures in the valleys and nearby water sources were marked in the landscape by erecting these sculptures. Moreover, these places have very high visibility over their surroundings, suggesting that locations in the landscape were deliberately chosen for their easy identifiability. The carving processes involved in producing these stone sculptures provide insights into the status of stonemasons and the wealth of livestock-raising communities. The discussion highlights the need for a wider sense of 'monumentality' when studying the Iron Age, since the verracos were an essential part of the landscape, serving as a means of organizing the land in densely populated regions.
