The purpose of my article is to compare the geological, archaeological and historical data of the water level fluctuation of Lake Balaton in the past 1800-2000 years, as well as to present the ...different scientific explanations of the changes. Geological and archaeological studies have confirmed that the low water level in the 1st and 2nd centuries was followed by a rise in the 3rd century. Between 4th and 12th centuries the water level sank again, but it increased at the end of the studied period. The decrease of the water level at the end of the 3rd century did not correlate with climatic changes, so it is highly probable that it was caused by human activity. The rising water level between 13th and 15th centuries coincides with low temperature and increased quantity of rainwater, but it is also true that human activity strengthened climatic effects in this case. In addition, it has to be considered as well how the watermills on the Sió/Sár rivers influenced the water level.
In Julius Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War, the term “oppidum” – used to designate any fortified community – indicates those particular Gaulish sites which are characterized both by a strong ...tendency to social cohesion and the development of a centralized territorial policy. From a chronological point of view, these sites are limited to a very precise period: the two last centuries BCE, from La Tène D1 to La Tène D2 (120–30 BCE). The purpose of this study is to define the role of animal production within the new urban structures. Hence, the research focuses on the specific economical aspect of meat resources and their management: what is the place of this activity in the economy of Gaulish peoples? Is it possible to detect within the sites any precise organisation in sectors in relation to the butchering activities? What about the meat imports and, consequently, the interactions between the communities and the sites of production? Who was the target of the produced food resources? Were they part of some large-scale “sales strategy”. The research aims to approach these economic issues through the study of the fauna remains recovered mostly from Condé-sur-Suippe, in the territory of the Remi, and also from Villeneuve-Saint-Germain, the capital of the Suessiones. Dating respectively from 120 to 90 BCE and from 90 to 40 BCE, these fortified communities are among the most important in Europe, not only because of their size and of the exceptional conservation of their town planning but also because of their almost unequalled faunal wealth. The comparison between the two sites and their neighbours, i.e. contemporaneous rural sites of an a priori inferior status will hence attempt to cast a new light on the economic role of these fortified communities which are the outcome of a long stratification process within the Gaulish society.
Dans les Commentaires de la guerre des Gaules de César, le terme d’”oppidum” – qui désigne dans ces écrits toute forme d’agglomération fortifiée – est utilisé afin de décrire ces sites gaulois particuliers qui témoignent à la fois d’un fort élan de cohésion sociale et du développement d’une politique territoriale centralisée. D’un point de vue chronologique, ce type de site s’inscrit dans un cadre précis : celui des deux derniers siècles avant notre ère, soit le La Tène D1 et le La Tène D2. L’étude ici entreprise vise à aborder la question de la compréhension du rôle des productions animales au sein de ces nouvelles formes d’urbanisation. L’enquête cherche ainsi à recentrer la problématique sur un aspect économique spécifique, celui des ressources carnées et de leur gestion : quelle est la part prise par cette production dans l’économie générale des populations gauloises ? Peut-on entrevoir, au sein des sites, une sectorisation stricte des quartiers en fonction des activités bouchères pratiquées ? Qu’en est-il des importations carnées et donc des interactions entre agglomérations et sites producteurs ? À qui ces ressources alimentaires produites étaient-elles destinées ? S’inscrivaient-elles dans une démarche ”commerciale” à grande échelle ? L’enquête projetée entend ainsi envisager ces problématiques économiques par le biais de l’étude de la faune provenant principalement de Condé-sur-Suippe, localisé sur le territoire des Rèmes, et de Villeneuve-Saint-Germain, capitale du peuple suession. Respectivement datées de 120 à 90 et de 90 à 40 av. n. è., ces agglomérations fortifiées figurent parmi les plus importantes d’Europe, non seulement en raison de leur taille et de la conservation exceptionnelle des plans d’urbanisme mais aussi en raison de leur richesse faunique presque inégalée. Des comparaisons entre les deux sites étudiés et leurs voisins, à savoir les sites ruraux synchrones de statut a priori inférieur, tendrait ainsi à éclairer d’un jour nouveau le rôle de ces agglomérations fortifiées qui matérialisent l’aboutissement d’un long processus de stratification de la société gauloise.
The evaluation of volcanic hazard in the Roman hinterland related to the quiescent Colli Albani Volcano has recently been the subject of renewed attention and several interpretations by many authors. ...However, very little was known of the recent history of the volcano, making such interpretations rather speculative. The most recent activity of Colli Albani Volcano originated from the Albano polygenetic maar lake, which erupted several phreatomagmatic units, the most recent of which, the Peperino Albano ignimbrite, has been dated at around 25 ka. An area of several square kilometers centered around Albano Lake is presently the site of shallow and frequent seismic activity and gaseous emission as well as hydrothermal activity and is therefore considered the most prone to geologic hazards. This paper presents new stratigraphic and geomorphologic data as well as age determinations that allow rejuvenation of the most recent activity of the Colli Albani Volcano, and particularly the Albano maar lake, to the Holocene. This study allows for the first time to identify a potential hazard related to the Albano maar lake withdrawal interpreted to be related to endogenous causes, namely CO
2 emission. The main results of the study are: (1) the Peperino Albano is not, as is generally believed, the last phreatomagmatic eruption from the Colli Albani Volcano; a previously unrecognized phreatomagmatic surge deposit has been identified overlying the paleosol at the top of the Peperino Albano and related lahar deposits; (2) two lahar deposits separated by paleosols top the stratigraphic succession and are dispersed only to the NW, corresponding to the lowest point of the maar rim, indicating that catastrophic hydrologic events occurred at the Albano Lake in recent times; rapid and substantial lake-level variations and lake withdrawal are reported by Roman historians and recorded by the stratigraphy of the Albano Lake lacustrine sediments; (3) microfracturing related to seismic energy release is linked to sudden variation of CO
2 flow and upwelling of hydrothermal fluids. These occurrences across the lake are the likely causes that triggered during Holocene several episodes of lake withdrawal, rising the water table and probably triggering convective rollover of the lake water.
Knowledge of the iron trade in ancient times rests on determining the source of the objects recovered during archaeological excavations. Unfortunately, attributing the origin is not always possible ...using archaeological tools alone. Trace element data of the ore and the archaeological material (reduction and reheating slags, entrapped slag inclusions from the bloom, bar iron and iron blades) from two Gallo‐Roman iron‐making centres, Les Martys (Montagne Noire) and Les Ferrys (Loiret), were determined using ICP–AES/MS and LA–ICP–MS. The results highlight a continuity of composition that makes it possible to establish a link between the initial ore and the semi‐finished iron products.
Charcoal analysis was carried out in two archaeological sites on the north slope of the Somma-Vesuvius volcano, not far from Naples. Both sites were inhabited between the 2nd century AD and AD 472, ...when a great Vesuvius eruption (so called Pollena eruption) buried them. In both sites, Castanea sativa wood was largely used for architectural structures as well as firewood. Ten
14
C dates, spanning between the 1st and the 5th century AD, testify to a continuative use of this wood throughout the life of the sites. The comparison between archaeobotanical and pollen data from other sites in southern Italy suggests that chestnut woods were close to the sites studied and had a restricted spreading, possibly in a refugium area on Vesuvius' foothills. The match between archaeological charcoals and pollen data suggests that the Romans did not spread chestnut cultivation in the entire Campania region and that chestnut probably became a common timber in Campania starting from the 5th-6th century AD.
This article focuses on the analysis of plant remains (seeds/fruits, charcoal, pollen, spores, and non-pollen palynomorphs) from two archaeological sites (pre-Roman and Roman) located in Las Médulas, ...a cultural landscape, in the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula. The article explores the way the communities living in the area managed their environment and the impact of productive activities on the landscape. This research has shown the multiplicity of needs this landscape satisfied and the various ways these communities managed the surrounding environment through different productive activities (agriculture, animal husbandry, and mining amongst others).
The research focused on chemical and mineralogical analyses of eight vitreous material ornaments with a not well-defined chronology, coming from the protohistoric and Roman site of Villa di Villa in ...Cordignano–Colle Castelir (Treviso, north-eastern Italy). Eleven microsamples from the bodies and decorations of the ornaments underwent wavelength-dispersive electron probe microanalysis, scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and micro-Raman Spectroscopy. Non-invasive X-ray powder diffraction was performed on the surface of the ornaments. All vitreous materials were obtained using
natron
as flux except for one annular blue bead produced with mixed alkali plant ashes. The analyzed dark blue glasses are Co colored, only the pale blue melon bead
faïence
is Cu colored. Opaque white and yellow glasses of two objects are opacified by Ca and Pb antimonates, respectively. The heterogeneous texture of some glasses is due to unreacted raw materials and/or newly formed crystals. The relationship between the Villa di Villa ornaments and coeval European/Mediterranean vitreous materials is also discussed. Composition, texture and morphological characteristics of the ornaments shed light on the different types of raw materials used and allow us to verify the main types of glass that occur during the great time span of life of the site and above all to answer to specific archaeological questions about possible chemical correlations between similar objects from the same or different SU. In two cases, the analytical data provide more detailed information about the ages of the ornaments.
The study of ancient skeletons is of high interest, as the relationship between men and animals can be reconstructed. In dogs, head injuries frequently result from direct physical traumas. The ...excavation of a prehistoric well (Genomi, Sardinia) brought to light sixty canine bones of the Age Roman (2nd century AD), although this well was built during the Nuragic Age. (1st millennium BC). Two canine skulls showing three traumatic lesions underwent computed tomography in order to study the endocast of the brain cavity and indirectly locate possible brain lesions. In the first case, a traumatic lesion was found in the left parietal bone with depression of the outer surface. This lesion determined compression of the left frontal cortex and was compatible with life, as can be deduced by the inflammation of the periostenum. In the second case, two different traumatic lesions were found. The former was a wide fracture of the right frontal bone near the orbital cavity. The injured area showed clear signs of bone remodeling which took place many months before death. The latter was a severe comminuted fracture involving both the outer and inner surface of the left frontal bone, which provoked a deep wound in the left frontal cortex. The sharp outline of bone splinters with no signs of bone remodelling indicates that the trauma was not compatible with life. All lesions described were consequent to severe blows from humans and testify mistreatment of dogs in the Roman Age.
A combined gas chromatography–mass spectrometry approach has been used for the characterization of two lumps of resin and 17 adsorbed residues on Roman-age vessels, mainly amphorae, from northern ...Greece. The data show that a diterpenic resin from plants of the Pinacae family is the main component of the tarry material associated with the analyzed archaeological samples. The identification and mass spectrometric fragmentation of several characteristic diterpenoid biomarkers is discussed. The abundance of secondary products identified in the archaeological samples suggests that the oxidative degradation of abietic acid and dehydroabietic acid to aromatic products was the main pathway. Of particular interest is the presence of characteristic saturated abietane hydrocarbons in one sample, which indicate that a reductive process also occurred on a small scale. The overall similarity in the composition of the residues suggests the common use of pine tar as a waterproofing and sealing agent at different sites in northern Greece during the Roman period.
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