Sharks are among the world's most endangered vertebrates, having declined by over 70% in abundance over the past 50 years—a collapse driven primarily by modern fishing. However, the extent of this impact is difficult to assess without improved records of past species distributions. Zooarchaeological records offer valuable baselines for shark diversity, distribution, and exploitation and provide essential historical context for assessing contemporary declines and vulnerability to extinction. Yet these records lag behind those for ray-finned fishes and marine mammals, largely because shark remains are difficult to identify to species level in the archaeological record. Here, we explore the use of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) for species identification in this under-studied group, using an archaeological case study from the marine environments of Santa Rosa Island, California, USA. ZooMS analyses were paired with stable isotope analysis (SIA) for a subset of specimens, allowing us to assess both taxonomic resolution and past trophic ecology and habitat use of regional elasmobranchs. Of the 27 samples analysed that could not be identified beyond family level by morphological analysis, mostly as Triakidae (houndsharks) or Rajidae (skates), ZooMS grouped them into three distinct taxa that included the school shark (Galeorhinus galeus), leopard shark (Triakis semifasciata), and Pacific spiny dog shark (Squalus suckleyi). Among three additional samples morphologically identified as the Pacific angel shark (Squatina californica), two were confirmed but another distinct angel shark with a collagen fingerprint more closely resembling but distinct from the Chilean angel shark (Squatina armata) was also recovered—the latter possibly from a previously unknown species. Our findings demonstrate that ZooMS can distinguish between smoothhounds, leopard sharks, and other morphologically similar species and, when paired with stable isotope analysis, can reconstruct both the taxonomic composition and ecological structure of past shark communities. Furthermore, by demonstrating that ZooMS can detect species previously unknown to the region, and potentially new to science, these results hold promise for reconstructing the historical composition of nearshore marine ecosystems and establishing appropriate historical baselines for the future management of at-risk species.
Side Chamber 3 of Theban Tomb 209 (Luxor) preserves a stratified assemblage of 17 mummified bodies documented in primary or partially primary position, and a secondary deposit of at least 4 individuals dated between the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty and the Ptolemaic period. This study applies an integrated archaeothanatological approach—combining body position, coffin use, stratigraphic relationships, superposition, and material associations—to reconstruct the depositional sequence and assess how funerary reuse transformed the organization of the chamber. The earliest phases, probably associated with the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, are characterized by relatively individualized burials deposited in coffins and arranged in spatially distinct sectors. From the late Twenty-Fifth Dynasty onwards, this pattern becomes progressively more flexible, with new individuals inserted into already occupied spaces and directly interacting with earlier remains. During the Persian and Ptolemaic periods, this process intensifies, resulting in a dense and vertically structured accumulative system. This transformation does not imply a loss of funerary order, but rather a shift in depositional logic. The gradual dissolution of one-to-one relationships between body, coffin, and associated objects reflects the emergence of a sequential system in which each burial is conditioned by the material persistence of previous deposits. In this context, the coffin does not disappear but loses its primary structuring role, progressively replaced by a depositional topography defined by bodies, sedimentary surfaces, and architectural constraints. The presence of a thermally altered secondary deposit and evidence of hydrological reshaping further indicate that the chamber was continuously reconfigured, generating a complex context in which primary, secondary, and transformed deposits coexist.
Arguably, archaeological discourses on plant domestication have tended to be normative, linear and teleological. They often seek the emergence of specific phenotypic and, increasingly, genotypic traits through time. These temporal reconstructions of plant domestication foreground certain lineages of a crop, yet they simultaneously background an array of crop wild relatives and locally important cultivars and cultiwilds that existed through time and from which the major domesticate lineages arose. Consequently, a vast diversity of plants and associated historical biogeographies, as well as the people who cultivated them, have been marginalised from archaeological reconstructions of the past.
This review synthesizes zooarchaeological evidence for Lapita subsistence strategies (c. 3200–2700 BP) across the Southwest Pacific, with particular focus on Vanuatu and the transformative contributions of the Teouma site. It examines how Lapita colonists adapted to diverse island ecologies, the impact of human arrival on native faunal diversity, and the methodological and theoretical challenges that have shaped our understanding. This paper highlights the dynamic, regionally variable nature of Lapita subsistence evidence and identifies priorities for future research. The Teouma assemblage demonstrates that when well-preserved sites are located and excavated with fine-grained recovery methods and analysed using sophisticated zooarchaeological methods within robust human behavioural ecology theoretical frameworks, Lapita zooarchaeology can move beyond basic taxonomic lists to address questions of resource depression, foraging efficiency, animal management, and sociopolitical complexity. Archaeological science techniques could in future provide additional advances in Lapita zooarchaeology.
Charcoal samples from different archaeological contexts at the site of Bara, in southwest Nigeria, were subjected to anthracological study. The sites investigated—residential structures, refuse deposits, and ceremonial centers-were from different cultural phases and settlement contexts ranging from ca. 400 BC during the Early Iron Age to the Oyo Imperial period during AD 1570–1835. The total number of charcoal pieces investigated is 2,972, constituting 4,458.2 g. All charcoal pieces that were more than 4 mm in size were included in the study. The anatomical features of each taxon were investigated in detail by the cross-sectional, tangential, and radial faces. The charcoal types were compared with burned wood/charcoal reference materials and a description of taxon characters present in the InsideWood database and IAWA list of microscopic features for hardwood identification. The identified types include species native to sub-Saharan African dry savanna, woodland savanna, and moist forests. This study offers the first comprehensive anthracological database in southwest Nigeria and provides the basis for reconstructing the long-term environmental history and household plant utilization from c. 400 BC to AD 1835.
The extensive and dynamic floodplains of the Amazon Basin have seldom been explored from an archaeological perspective due to the dynamic processes of erosion and deposition that shape them. A frequent assumption is that most landforms of the whitewater floodplains have recently been reworked. To better understand where human activities may have left an archaeological record in these ecosystems, it is essential to enhance our comprehension of the floodplain's geomorphology. We seek to construct a method of mapping older fluvial levees, that are landforms where we suspect that archaeological contexts may be preserved. The format of the terrain's lateral accretion can be identified based on fluvial geomorphology. Due to the annual flooding of the landscape, it is hypothesized that the higher vegetation corresponds to elevated landscape positions of vertical accretion. This proposal was explored through data from remote sensing and ground truthing. We sought to identify this vegetation using different values of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) that may aid in locating levees and, consequently, pre-colonial archaeological sites. This study presents qualitative findings from ground-truthing conducted in the Alenquer floodplain region of the Lower Amazon. Even though our results are initial, they demonstrate successful identification of some levees and document a late Holocene archaeological site located on a levee. Our study suggests that despite the losses of portions of the floodplain to erosional processes, there is an archaeological record to be explored in the seasonally flooded forests that may improve our understanding of historical human relationships with these ecosystems.
MicroCT analysis of archaeological parenchyma fragments has identified Aboriginal exploitation of underground storage organs (USOs) at Birriwilk rockshelter, Arnhem Land, northern Australia. A variety of USO types were identified from late Holocene contexts, including bulbs/corms, dicotyledon primary/tap roots and monocotyledon stem tubers. The range of USOs exploited is consistent with ethnographic accounts of plant exploitation practices by Aboriginal communities in this region. Although lacking taxonomic specificity, these results demonstrate the value of using microCT to investigate charred archaeological parenchyma in order to understand past human use of soft-tissue, plant storage organs.
Archaeobotanical evidence paired with GunaiKurnai cultural knowledge has established that plants were central to activities of the Old Ancestors in Cloggs Cave, GunaiKurnai Country. Here, we undertake a study of phytoliths from the stratified archaeological deposits to provide a complimentary line of evidence of people–plant relations across 25,000 years of cave engagement. Alongside the phytoliths of the archaeological sediments, we analyse the phytolith contents of individual, well-preserved buried possum scats to better clarify animal vs. anthropic processes of phytolith deposition in the cave. We found burnt phytoliths to be an unequivocal indicator of human activities related to plants and their subsequent accumulation within the cave. Phytoliths from grasses dominate the archaeological assemblage, while woody plant phytoliths and ash pseudomorphs of woody plants were detected in low amounts or are otherwise absent. Phytolith morphotypes from all parts of the grass plant including the inflorescences and leaves/culms indicate that the Old Ancestors intentionally selected and transported whole grass plants to the cave. Burnt phytoliths from all anatomical parts of grasses were identified from thin, laterally expansive ashy layers, suggesting that the grasses were brought into the cave to create layers of ash. With the exception of burnt phytoliths, we were unable to unequivocally discriminate between phytoliths that accumulated via the activities of people vs. those of possums (through their scats). It is, therefore, probable that in the non-ashy layers, the phytoliths represent a mixture of plants that entered the cave through the activities of both people and animals. Issues inherent in phytolith analysis, namely morphotype redundancy and differential phytolith production, limit the paleoecological inferences that can currently be made from the Cloggs Cave phytoliths, and demonstrate the value of analysing multiple independent botanical proxies to reveal how people used plants in the past.
Shifting cultivation is a widespread agricultural practice in the wet tropical forests of the world, as well as other environments. Short-term cultivation followed by long-term fallow is a human adaptation to the low fertility of soils under tropical forests. Forms of shifting cultivation are likely to be ancient and among the earliest agricultural practices. Here, a multi-disciplinary method for the investigation of shifting cultivation in the past is outlined. The method is grounded in direct archaeological evidence and palaeo-pedological evidence for soil formation processes associated with cultivation practices, which are interwoven with contextual palaeoecological and geomorphological evidence for landscape transformation. Hence, these multi-disciplinary lines of evidence are recast to assess whether a short period of use of a c. 10,000 year-old palaeosurface at Kuk Swamp in montane Papua New Guinea represents shifting cultivation or alternative types of plant exploitation in the past.
IntroductionThis study addresses the underutilization of bioarchaeological approaches in Egyptian research by reevaluating six royal skeletal remains (King Hor and five princesses) from de Morgan's 1894–1895 Dahshur excavation. Historically, these remains—now dispersed across two museums—received limited and contentious early analysis.MethodsThe present research employs an integrated methodology, combining systematic osteological reexamination (biological profiles, activity patterns, non-metric traits, and paleopathology), radiological imaging (X-ray), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) for embalming materials.ResultsThis multi-analytical approach generates comprehensive data on elite health, activity patterns, and familial relationships. It also provides new perspectives on the royal women interred with historically male-associated weapons and regalia, exploring whether these items reflect active use or symbolic burial.DiscussionBy critically correlating skeletal and historical evidence, this study refines individual identities, contextualizes funerary practices, and demonstrates the vital role of human remains analysis in reconstructing ancient Egyptian life and death.
The advent of hard tin-bronze metallurgy significantly changed the way in which metals are used during the Bronze Age from primarily display/prestige to quotidian/utilitarian technologies. Yet, it is difficult to quantify the rate and nature of change. Most researchers studying early metallurgy primarily confine themselves to the study of either the few preserved metal objects and/or the decline of stone tools. However, relatively few metal tools have survived in the archaeological record, while stone tools continue to be used even into late antiquity. Thus, they are both biased measures to some extent. Through experimental research, it has been demonstrated that the transition from a chipped stone to metal based technology at sites and across regions can be determined through microscopic analysis of butchering slice marks. This method allows for a quantitative assessment of the nature and rate of adoption of the new technology. In this paper, the butchering mark data on animal bones from Kenyon's excavations at Jericho (Tel es-Sultan) are reanalysed. The author initially analysed the butchering data more than 25 years ago when the method was in its infancy. Reanalysis of the data with improved technology (Scanning Electron Microscopy/SEM) and better periodisation of deposits demonstrates that the earlier analysis was incorrect and should not be cited. The reanalysed evidence from Jericho demonstrates that there is no support for the use of metal tools for butchering animals during the Early Bronze I-III or the Intermediate Bronze periods. Only in the Middle Bronze II is there significant evidence for butchering by metal tools. These results align the Jericho sequence with other nearby sites and demonstrate that the technology of the Early Bronze represented in large part continuity with the preceding periods.
This study investigates regional variation in pig husbandry in 12th-16th century England and its role in sustaining woodlands, wetlands and small towns. Medieval pig management is often characterised as a transition from forest-dwelling pigs to pigs being increasingly confined in urban sites, a key stage in the evolutionary history of the European domestic pig. However, multi-isotope analysis (delta 13C, delta 15N, delta 34S, 87Sr/86Sr) of dentine, bone collagen and enamel from 57 pigs (424 measurements) across seven towns, combined with biometric and mortality data, indicates that management strategies remained regionally diverse. The results reveal predominantly extensive, free-roaming systems and demonstrate the resilience of these practices through the demographic and environmental disruptions of the 14th-15th century crises (i.e., Black Death, Great Famine, Little Ice Age). These findings highlight the ecological importance of medieval pig husbandry and its relevance for understanding historically sustainable landscape management.
Medieval Nubia (ca. sixth–fifteenth centuries CE) is frequently portrayed as a culturally uniform landscape—Christianized, politically cohesive, and materially consistent from Nobadia to Alwa. This apparent homogeneity, reinforced by standardized mortuary customs and limited textual evidence, has long shaped interpretations of the period. Yet bioarchaeological sciences increasingly reveal a far more complex picture. Drawing on recent studies, this paper argues that human remains offer a critical corrective to the perceived unity of medieval Nubian society.
Late Neolithic settlements in southeastern Europe expanded to unprecedented sizes, potentially reshaping agricultural practices and household production strategies in response to increasing demographic and environmental constraints. On the Great Hungarian Plain, such population aggregation occurred within landscapes characterized by extensive wetlands and limited arable land, raising questions about how cultivation regimes were organized and whether expanding communities fostered emerging inequalities in access to agricultural resources. We address these issues at the large tell settlement of Berettyóújfalu–Herpály (Hungary) through an integrated analysis of over 33,000 charred archaeobotanical remains recovered from nine contemporaneous houses destroyed by fire in the mid-fifth millennium BCE. By combining functional weed ecology (Functional Interpretation of Botanical Surveys), cereal morphometrics, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements on individual grains (n = 104), we reconstruct field conditions, manuring intensity, water availability, and labor investment at the household level. Emmer and einkorn wheats exhibit consistently high δ1⁵N values, indicating sustained manuring and broadly shared access to dung resources, while weed assemblages reveal reduced weeding intensity relative to earlier Neolithic garden-based cultivation systems. Barley, by contrast, displays lower nitrogen isotope values and weed communities characteristic of lower-input regimes, suggesting spatially differentiated crop management in which wheats were grown in more intensively tended plots and barley was grown in wetter or more distant fields. Variation among houses in charred seed isotope values and grain size points to emerging household-level differences in access to labor, land, or livestock, while mixed cropping of emmer and einkorn reflects risk-buffering strategies in a hydrologically constrained landscape. Overall, evidence from the settlement of Berettyóújfalu–Herpály suggests that early population centers on the Great Hungarian Plain maintained predominantly intensive cultivation while selectively experimenting with extensification at the scale of crops and households. Household variability did not translate into major disparities in stored crops, implying that cooperative mechanisms tempered the development of sustained inequality.
Following Haaland's work on “porridge and pot” cuisine and Stahl's “cartographies of taste” as a means of exploring cultural and ecological dynamics, this paper highlights the continuities and important variations of cuisine in South Central Africa. This paper expands archaeobotanical discussions beyond subsistence to consider how cuisine and cookery reflect the broader dynamics of plant materiality, environment, and cultural and social expressions over time. We begin by contextualising the archaeology of food systems in the region, before examining how environmental conditions and ecology can serve as infrastructures that shape food systems and cuisine across the Zambezian Bioregion. We then consider how research theory and methods can provide a more nuanced understanding of the historical geography of porridge as a cuisine in South Central Africa. We conclude by outlining the implications of treating cuisine and cartographies of taste as significant expressions of individual and collective values embedded into both regional and hyperlocal environments.
Cave 338 is a high-altitude prehistoric site located at 2,235 m a. s.l. in the eastern Pyrenees (Queralbs, Girona, NE Iberian Peninsula). Excavated between 2021 and 2023, the site preserves an exceptional and well-stratified archaeological sequence documenting recurrent episodes of human occupation spanning from at least the early 5th millennium cal BC to the late 1st millennium cal BC. Radiocarbon dates indicate that these occupations occurred during several discrete phases separated by intervals of reduced or absent activity. The cave currently represents the highest-altitude prehistoric cave site with sustained occupation currently documented in the Pyrenees. The archaeological record reveals a dense succession of combustion features, abundant faunal and ceramic remains, and an extraordinary assemblage of green mineral fragments, most likely malachite, repeatedly introduced into the cave and processed in situ. This evidence indicates the systematic exploitation of copper-rich minerals in a high-mountain environment from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age, providing an unprecedented record for the Pyrenean range and one of the earliest high-altitude contexts of mineral exploitation documented in Europe. The organization of space, the density of combustion features and the nature of the associated activities indicate that Cave 338 was not a marginal or sporadically used shelter, but rather a repeatedly occupied logistical site integrated within structured seasonal mobility systems. These findings challenge prevailing interpretative models that characterize prehistoric occupations above 2,000 m.a.s.l. as ephemeral and low-intensity. Instead, Cave 338 demonstrates that alpine environments could play a central role in long-term prehistoric land-use strategies, particularly in relation to the exploitation of mineral resources. As such, the site provides a key reference framework for understanding high-mountain occupation, resource exploitation and mobility dynamics in the Pyrenees during later prehistory.
For much of prehistory, the landscapes of southeast Norway were deeply shaped by dense forests. Yet archaeological narratives of the period from around 2350 BCE onward—the Late Neolithic and Nordic Bronze Age—have largely emphasized episodes of forest clearance and agrarian expansion, mirroring human-landscape developments elsewhere in Scandinavia. This focus has left more persistent landscapes and their associated “forms of life”, particularly those linked to forested environments, largely unexplored. To understand how people continued to inhabit and work within wooded surroundings, even after establishing farmsteads, this study adopts a different perspective. Using REVEALS to reconstruct Late Neolithic and Bronze Age vegetation from an extensive palynological dataset, we examine the diversity and socio-economic potential of forests in southeast Norway. By integrating these reconstructions with archaeological evidence, we propose the concept of a forested form of life: a sustained livelihood rooted in differentiated forest use and management. This reframing positions the southeast Norwegian forests not as passive backdrops to deforestation, but as actively maintained, co-shaped environments. In doing so, the paper highlights the dynamic role of forests as social and historical ecologies, offering a neglected perspective on human-environment relations in the Scandinavian Bronze Age.
The Neolithic of Southwest Asia (c. 10,000–5,200 BCE) is associated with increasing residential stability alongside resource domestication processes. Yet, the trajectories of sedentism varied widely, with balances between sedentary and mobile behaviors contextually driven by subsistence needs, cultural practices and expanding interaction networks. In the Central Zagros, a key area for early domestication and settled life, the role of human mobility in shaping resource procurement and community structure remains underexplored. To investigate this, high-resolution laser ablation strontium isotope analysis was applied to 101 human teeth (41 individuals) from Bestansur (Iraqi Kurdistan), a major 8th-millennium BCE center in the region, using a life-course approach. The results, supported by new, multi-proxy baseline data, delineate a largely local community with multi-generational ties to the site, while providing possible evidence for the exploitation of different foraging locales. Challenging rigid dichotomies between mobile hunter-gatherers and settled farmers, the integration of isotopic and contextual data enables consideration of diverse landscape use amid emerging sedentism, offering direct insights into Early Neolithic community make-up. Additionally, it contributes to the characterization of strontium isotope variability in a region with sparse isotope records, providing grounds for discussions of mobility and landscape use that transcend specific chronological boundaries.
