This paper explores what can be learned about settlement construction and use in the southwest Asian Neolithic from phytolith, geochemical and ethnographic analysis. This period was targeted because, despite its importance, our understanding of building practices and use of space within settlements is sometimes limited. We chose the sites of WF16 and ‘Ain Ghazal as case studies and compared them with ethnographic samples of known origin from the similarly constructed twentieth century village of Al Ma'tan, Jordan. We split our samples into different context categories for example middens, hearths and floors, and found that phytolith and elemental signatures are strongest for categories linked to construction practices rather than activities. Geology, age and the availability of local plant materials were found to be key sources of signature variability. Fire contexts have particularly distinct activity signatures, which are heavily influenced by fuel choice yet are relatively analogous. We suggest that the use of micro-proxies such as phytoliths and geochemistry should be considered when sampling strategies are devised and integrated with other forms of archaeological evidence to enhance site interpretation.

Recent research has shown that the Faynan Orefield was a scene of intensive metal production during the Classical Period, but the infrastructure supporting this activity is less well known. We present evidence for previously undetected floodwater-farming and quarrying, which contributed to the economic life of the Faynan complex during Classical times. The site is located on an ancient route, south of the main orefield. We describe the hydrological control features of the floodwater farm and a possible place of habitation. Pollen analysis suggests that olives and cereals were cultivated. Exposures of sediment sequences containing buried walls, and ceramics both within and upon these sediments, all indicate that the activity took place during Nabatean to Late Roman/Byzantine times. Two ancient quarried areas were distinguished from natural landforms by a combination of geomorphic properties and variations in the geochemistry of the Mn-Fe rich desert varnish on long-exposed and quarried rock surfaces. Essentially uncontaminated by metal pollution, the site provided uncontaminated produce and building stone to the Faynan Orefield. Sediments and soils on the site are essentially unpolluted.

The Faynan region of modern-day Jordan is known as one of the earliest polluted landscapes due to the early development of metallurgy, beginning some 6000 years ago. Human exposure to heavy metals, particularly lead, has been documented for the Iron Age, Roman, and Byzantine eras, when metallurgical practices reached an industrial scale. This research presents the earliest evidence of human exposure to anthropogenic lead, occurring in the Early Bronze Age Ib (3300-3000 BP). Using microspatial analyses (LA-ICP-MS) of the trace element composition of human dental enamel, temporal shifts in childhood lead exposure were observed. Individuals varied in terms of the amount of lead absorbed during life, but also with respect to the timing, frequency, and duration of exposures. These findings align with archaeological evidence indicating that metallurgical practices during the Early Bronze Age Ib were carried on a small, domestic scale, and that engagement was variable across households. This work not only documents the earliest human exposure to environmental pollution, but it also provides a methodological model for how we can better understand the nuances of human-environment interactions in the past without destroying irreplaceable samples.

Volcanic gases are insidious and often overlooked hazards. The effects of volcanic gases on life may be direct, such as asphyxiation, respiratory diseases and skin burns; or indirect, e.g. regional famine caused by the cooling that results from the presence of sulfate aerosols injected into the stratosphere during explosive eruptions. Although accounting for fewer fatalities overall than some other forms of volcanic hazards, history has shown that volcanic gases are implicated frequently in small-scale fatal events in diverse volcanic and geothermal regions. In order to mitigate risks due to volcanic gases, we must identify the challenges. The first relates to the difficulty of monitoring and hazard communication: gas concentrations may be elevated over large areas and may change rapidly with time. Developing alert and early warning systems that will be communicated in a timely fashion to the population is logistically difficult. The second challenge focuses on education and understanding risk. An effective response to warnings requires an educated population and a balanced weighing of conflicting cultural beliefs or economic interests with risk. In the case of gas hazards, this may also mean having the correct personal protection equipment, knowing where to go in case of evacuation and being aware of increased risk under certain sets of meteorological conditions. In this chapter we review several classes of gas hazard, the risks associated with them, potential risk mitigation strategies and ways of communicating risk. We discuss carbon dioxide flows and accumulations, including lake overturn events which have accounted for the greatest number of direct fatalities, the hazards arising from the injection of sulfate aerosol into the troposphere and into the stratosphere. A significant hazard facing the UK and northern Europe is a "Laki"-style eruption in Iceland, which will be associated with increased risk of respiratory illness and mortality due to poor air quality when gases and aerosols are dispersed over Europe. We discuss strategies for preparing for a future Laki style event and implications for society.

Understanding Neolithic sites in southwest Asia is often difficult because of the lack of preservation of organic remains and the effects of various taphonomic processes that alter the original record. Here, we use an ethnographic approach to test the potential of using plant phytoliths and geochemistry to aid our interpretation of southwest Asian Neolithic sites. Our study of a recently abandoned stone and mud constructed village in Jordan, shows that for certain activity types, phytoliths and geochemistry can help distinguish different construction methods and functions, particularly for burnt areas, animal use areas and where there has been the addition of a specific construction material. For features constructed from the same source materials distinctions are more problematic. Geochemical and phytolith proxies were individually effective in distinguishing activity areas and construction materials, but signals were diminished when the statistical analysis was run on both forms of evidence combined. It is therefore recommended that the data from plant phytolith and geochemical analyses are subject to separate statistical tests and that the two sets of results are used in combination to interpret archaeological sites and their uses.

This chapter discusses the ongoing project in the Chiriqui Province of western Panama. Three of the plates: the Cocos, Nazca, and Caribbean interact beneath the Pacific side of western Panama, creating frequent seismic activity. The chapter focuses on the modern contexts of Nyiragongo and Volcan Baru that shows a deep texture to the landscape relations in volcanic regions that are not simply environmental or catastrophic. Archaeological assessments frequently note the volcano's catastrophic potential to transform the landscape, contribute to soil fertility, or create useful stratigraphic ter-mini post quem. The anthropological divisions between archaeology and socio-cultural anthropology unhelpfully divide spheres of information that can fruitfully inform one another. The Volcan Baru is prominently discussed in the most systematic archaeological investigations of Panama region, which were completed in the early 1970s. Inability to divorce natural and cultural elements from one another in the investigation of natural disasters or hazard's studies is becoming prevalent in academic discussion.

The roots of pyrometallurgy are obscure. This paper explores one possible precursor, in the Faynan Orefield in southern Jordan. There, at approximately 7000cal. BP, banks of a near-perennial meandering stream (today represented by complex overbank wetland and anthropogenic deposits) were contaminated repeatedly by copper emitted by human activities. Variations in the distribution of copper in this sequence are not readily explained in other ways, although the precise mechanism of contamination remains unclear. The degree of copper enhancement was up to an order of magnitude greater than that measured in Pleistocene fluvial and paludal sediments, in contemporary or slightly older Holocene stream and pond deposits, and in the adjacent modern wadi braidplain. Lead is less enhanced, more variable, and appears to have been less influenced by contemporaneous human activities at this location. Pyrometallurgy in this region may have appeared as a byproduct of the activity practised on the stream-bank in the Wadi Faynan ~7000years ago.

Two main types of ancient mining-waste/spoil deposits were identified on the floor of the Wadi Khalid in the foothills of the Mountains of Edom near the ancient metallurgical centre of the Khirbat Faynan. The Khalid OP Beds are primarily the product of the purposeful breaking and selection of copper-rich clasts of particular sizes as part of the beneficiation of the mined ores, whereas the Khalid W Beds appear to be the result of the widespread discard of the more abundant final “waste products”. Geochemical studies of their surface copper contents by p-XRF of both deposits at eroding exposures conform to these interpretations.

The impacts and course of heavy-metal pollution from ancient copper metallurgy that used a variety of accessory metal-rich ores possible associated hydrological engineering, and concurrent as well as later biological, diagenetic and geomorphic processes are all examined in a small desertic wadi adjacent to the ancient centre of copper metallurgy of the Khirbet Faynan, in southern Jordan. This novel study describes a step-by-step, multi-faceted approach to a type and scale of problem and geomorphological situation that differ from those most commonly examined in studies of past heavy-metal pollution. Although at this remote and arduous location much key geoarchaeological information is unknown, this investigation remains rooted in existing geomorphological descriptions and re-examines earlier explanations. It also describes the concentrations of other metals judged to be unlikely to be notably influenced by past industrial activity at the site. The exploration begins with a visually-based qualitative stratigraphic description of all metals determined by ICPMS studies to be present at more than trace concentrations in a complex sedimentary sequence in an exposure of surficial deposits in the wadi-floor, a process that also suggests further anomalies and uncertainties in existing understanding. PCA was used in a descriptive and inductive manner to clarify if previously inferred relationships were actually present between the concentrations of different metals, and between these concentrations and geomorphological properties of the six lithofacies recognised in the sedimentary sequence. This PCA did not seek to make statistical inference. Such relationships were previously explained in terms of interactions between the presence or absence in the vicinity of active pollution from industrial scale copper metallurgy and local (bio)geomorphological and post-depositional processes - these views were significantly, but not fully, supported.The PCA showed "overall gradients" that implied different pathways of various metals, between ancient active industrial landscapes and the post industrial situation of today. Previously unknown types of geochemical local trends were also detected consistently within the ordination space for some lithofacies, but not for others. These "local gradients" appear to distinguish consistently between those bodies of sediments that were accumulating adjacent to and contemporary with times of active copper smelting and exploitation, from those bodies of sediment that were accumulating after ca. 1350 calendar years ago, and in receipt of heavy-metals eroded and recycled in abandoned, post-industrial landscapes. The properties of both types of gradient appear real, consistent and meaningful.The end of industrial scale copper processing in Late Byzantine-Early Arab times in the exposure has been defined by the statistical relationships of its heavy-metal pollution yield, and separated from the impacts of an immediately preceding alluvial event. The PCA clarified a major anomaly in the geomorphological, archaeometallurgical and geochemical data. This is hypothesised to be the result of the water-proofing of the (often) porous sediments of this wadi-floor by the ancient process of puddling, possibly in association with the use of a major barrage immediately down-wadi. The extensive heavy-metal pollution evident in the modern landscape at this particular site is suggested to derive primarily from heavy-metal pollutants emitted in Classical times. The distinctive suite of heavy-metal pollutants emitted here in the Middle Bronze Age, ca. 3500 years ago, may have been partially-sealed below the immediate land surface by the inferred puddling of the wadi-floor. The changing concentrations of other heavy metals through this sequence suggest they were often essentially unaffected by the profound archaeometallurgical and natural events that have taken place here. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

[Extract] This chapter sets out the primary evidence gathered by the Niah Caves Project concerning the Late Quaternary (i.e. Late Pleistocene and Holocene) sequences in the two main cave entrances that we investigated: the northern chamber of the West Mouth of the Great Cave (Fig. 3.1), and Lobang Hangus. From our initial visits to the West Mouth, studies of the exposures there showed that it has not been the site of continuous or even semi-continuous 'vertical aggradation' of sediments over time, as Tom Harrisson argued: the visual picture is far from uniform, the nature of erosion and deposition has altered significantly through time and space, and there is no simple stratigraphic sequence. As a result, the interpretation of the inherent variability and distribution of the often complex deposits and landforms, including archaeological features, has to depend upon a substantial body of new evidence. This includes: the formal identification and description of exposures; more detailed sedimentological and palynological studies of individual strata recognized in the analysis of 'long' sections through them; and the definition and mapping of the most important components of the sequence, both erosional and depositional, including the contacts between the surviving features. The primary evidence for the new interpretation of the West Mouth cave entrance sequence is summarized in the line drawings and photographs of the exposed faces investigated by the project (their locations shown in detail in Figs. 2.38, 2.39, 3.1 & 3.2; and in Table 3.1). The analysis is based upon new radiocarbon dates of fragments of charcoal excavated from exposures during the NCP project, and which have clear stratigraphic associations. These dates, calibrated using the protocols of Reimer et al. (2009), are listed in the Appendix and reported in this chapter using the terminology in Rose (2007). Further details are set out in Volume 2, Chapter 5 and in the associated supplementary material describing the key exposures in the West Mouth. Further information on the sequence at Lobang Hangus is likewise presented in Volume 2, Chapter 4.

The Byzantine period (4th–7th centuries A.D.) site of Khirbet Faynan (Phaeno) was a state-run mining camp described in ancient sources as a destination for Christian martyrs and others prosecuted by the administration who were condemned to the mines (damnatio ad metallum). However, other evidence suggests that Phaeno had a much broader role and population in antiquity than that described by ancient writers. Here, strontium and oxygen isotope data on the level of migration into Phaeno were compared with elemental data on lead and copper skeletal levels to illuminate the varied exposure of local vs. non-local individuals to contaminated environments (presumably from working in mining and smelting operations). Dental enamel 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O data from 31 individuals excavated from the Southern Cemetery identified one individual born in a region with different strontium isotope values in the bedrock yet similar oxygen isotope signatures as Faynan. Most of the primarily locally-derived Faynan residents displayed skeletal copper and lead levels exceeding those seen in comparative samples, confirming that growing up and residing in the polluted environment of Faynan led to notable bioaccumulation of heavy metals and its resulting health effects. In addition, ten individuals had extremely elevated lead and copper levels in their skeleton resulting from more intensive exposure to contaminated environments, possibly through smelting and mining activities. These data confirm the relatively localized nature of this imperial operation and that this predominantly locally-derived population had different activities that put them ask varied risk for contamination by heavy metals.

In a landmark book which examined the role of volcanic eruptions in human evolution, Sheets and Grayson (1979: 6) could legitimately note that very few archaeologists had paid significant attention to the potential cultural effects of the natural hazards (e.g. volcanic tephra, earthquake-damaged walls, etc.) whose occurrences were apparent from many of their excavations. The current situation is radically different. In recent years studies stressing the impacts of past natural disasters on ancient societies have increased dramatically, although the majority of these are still authored or inspired by natural scientists and astronomers rather than archaeologists (e.g. Ambrose, 1998; Driessen and Macdonald, 1997; Harris, 2000; Isaacson and Zeidler, 1999; McGuire et al., 2000; McCoy and Heiken, 2000; Newhall et al., 2000; Nur and Cline, 2000; Peiser et al., 1998; Siebe et al., 1996; Stiros and Jones, 1996). Volcanic eruptions have led the way as the most commonly invoked environmental forcing mechanism, but droughts, floods and earthquakes are now also regularly proposed as triggering cultural change. If we look to the modern world as a model for what we might expect to find in the past, we find that severe climatic events that wreak havoc on human communities, destroy homes and livelihoods, and inflict high levels of mortality are surprisingly frequent and widespread. For instance, Tobin and Montz (1997) provide a graphic catalogue of disasters during the single typical year of 1985.

Journal of Quaternary ScienceVolume 24, Issue 6 p. 643-643 Book Review Climate extremes and society. H. F. Diaz and R. J. Murnane (eds). Publisher : Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008 (340 pp.) ISBN 978-0-521-87028-3 John Grattan, John Grattan Aberystwyth University, UKSearch for more papers by this author John Grattan, John Grattan Aberystwyth University, UKSearch for more papers by this author First published: 20 August 2009 https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1324AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume24, Issue6September 2009Pages 643-643 RelatedInformation