I am an archaeologist with broad research interests in environmental history and historical ecology. Most of my research to date has focused on the long-term history of farming and settlement in African contexts. To do so, I have been combining the study of soils and sediments (soil macro- and micromorphology), plant microremains (phytoliths), and written and oral records with ethnographic observations.
I am currently working on a number of projects, and I will soon post some info on these.
Should you have any query about my work or just sharing similar interest, I am always happy to hearing from new people.
The role of peripheries and satellite settlements around ancient cities is a critical issue in un... more The role of peripheries and satellite settlements around ancient cities is a critical issue in understanding past urban phenomena. The relations between core urban centres and other settlements have often been considered using centre-periphery models. The limitations of such approaches are now emerging as new evidence for interdependency, fluidity, and changeability between cities and their surroundings increases in quality and complexity. This paper reviews the relations between ancient capital centres in Africa and their peripheries, using Aksum and Great Zimbabwe as case studies. It attempts at reconciling indicators of interdependency between these sites and core urban areas that current narratives of urban settlement struggle to accommodate. The exercise opens new avenues to reconfigure spatial representations and understandings of centre-periphery relations at specific sites and begin to think about urban regions and textured landscapes.
The organisation and use of space in domestic contexts remain challenging areas of investigation ... more The organisation and use of space in domestic contexts remain challenging areas of investigation for archaeology due to the complexity and range of site formation and post-depositional processes. In tropical environments, soil processes speed up the degradation of archaeological and environmental records, and relatively ephemeral structures built of mud or clay degrade quickly after abandonment, leaving almost no traces of human activities behind. This paper presents the results of bulk soil and chemical analyses, artefact distribution, and phytolith analysis from the excavation of a daub house at the early medieval site of Unguja Ukuu (c. 7th–14th c. AD), Zanzibar. High-resolution, systematic sampling for microscopic and elemental analyses proved effective in detecting spatial variability in relatively small areas. However, soil chemical enrichment (e.g. Ca, Mg, Mn, P) usually linked to anthropogenic impact on archaeological deposits appears hardly visible in the Unguja Ukuu house deposits. Instead, measurements of a wider range of elements, including trace and rare earth elements (REEs) proved to be important for detecting elemental signatures related to human activities. Contextual sampling of artefacts and phytoliths were crucial to identify sources of chemical enrichment and, thus, build a picture of spatial organisation within the house. The combined multi-scalar sampling strategy with a multi-proxy analytical approach enabled us to define the layout of the daub structure, indoor/outdoor spaces and activity hot-spots. Although macroscopic traces of past activities were almost completely obliterated, archaeological remains of earthen architecture and the use of space can be detected even in such complex tropical settings.
Gallinari L. (ed.), Sardinia from the Middle Ages to Contemporaneity. Bern: Peter Lang., 2018
This chapter presents an overview of landscape history in Sardinia with a particular focus on the... more This chapter presents an overview of landscape history in Sardinia with a particular focus on the ways in which archaeological studies have informed, and have been shaped by, perceptions of the island’s diverse environment over time. By examining the unfolding trends of over a century of archaeological research, narratives about Sardinia’s landscapes and how they have changed over time appear very closely connected to the formation and transformation of multiple identities: from the conservative shepherd society of prehistoric mountains to the villains of medieval farmlands.
Once a thriving center with commercial links to the Indian Ocean, what remains of Great Zimbabwe ... more Once a thriving center with commercial links to the Indian Ocean, what remains of Great Zimbabwe is its monumental architecture. Its rise and decline have long been linked to environmental changes in southern Zimbabwe, beginning in the second half of the 13th century with agropastoralists thriving in the region's well-watered granite hills and valleys, and culminating in a vast urban and trading society. Later, c.1550 AD, it is argued, drying climate, land overexploitation, and changing regional trading patterns would lead to the decline of Great Zim-babwe. A review of this model is necessary since Great Zimbabwe and communities living around it survive in a region constantly threatened by water crises. However, we still know very little on the forms and uses of water and how these have influenced its development and demise. This article offers a multilayered review of available information on water, including new records on environmental sequences, modern water sources, and provisioning models from in and around Great Zimbabwe. The integration of both old and new datasets allows us to follow the history of people-water interaction from early times to the present. We argue that understanding of the local environment was vital in managing both water excesses and shortages in the past, and show that some of this knowledge survives among indigenous communities linked to the site and living in the surrounding landscape. While nearby Masvingo town has persistently lived under water-emergency conditions, farmers around Great Zimbabwe mitigate shortfalls of modern water provision through a balanced and mutually vital interaction with natural water resources such as springs and soil moisture.
Past urban settlements in tropical island environments offer particularly challenging sites for m... more Past urban settlements in tropical island environments offer particularly challenging sites for mainstream archaeology. Often associated with shallow stratigraphic sequences, archaeological sediments and soils in these sites are strongly influenced by local geology and seawater. This study discusses the advantages and challenges of developing an integrated geoarchaeological programme to examine the use of space at the Swahili stonetown of Songo Mnara Island, Tanzania. This exceptionally well preserved site, occupied for less than two centuries (C14th–16th AD), comprises a complex urban layout with stone-built houses, wattle-and-daub structures, funerary complexes, activity areas such as wells, and open areas. The programme has combined geoarchaeological (soil macro- and micromorphology, ICP-AES, pH, EC), geophysical (magnetic susceptibility) and archaeological (large excavations, test trenches, artefact distribution mapping) techniques to investigate the use of space across different contexts. Initial geoarchaeological prospection and opportunistic soil sampling have allowed framing of the island’s environmental settings and archaeological deposits as well as outlining open spaces in between buildings. Subsequent research applied a systematic sampling strategy to map geochemical and artefact distributions in conjunction with context-specific soil micromorphology. The results provide a means to map out the impact of occupation across the site as well as to differentiate between open, roofed and unroofed spaces. ICP-AES results, for example, demonstrate that measurements of Ca, Mg, P, S and Sr levels can help discriminate occupation/activity areas in tropical island environments. They also indicate that the depletion of certain elements (e.g. Na, K, and Ni) should be considered as a means of differentiating between roofed and unroofed spaces. The combination of different methodologies demonstrates the importance of addressing discrepancies as well as correlations between multiple datasets for deciphering features within urban spaces in tropical environments and interpreting ancient activities that occurred within them.
From the 10th to the 15th century, the castle of Marmilla was part of the southern defensive syst... more From the 10th to the 15th century, the castle of Marmilla was part of the southern defensive system of the Kingdom of Arborèa. It controlled an important strategic sector: it represented the power on the outskirts of the State, controlled the plains historically devoted to agricultural production and presided over the communication route. It is a fortification, on the top of a steep hill, built with considerable economic resources justified by its strategic importance. The fortification characterized the landscape of which it was part, being influenced in turn: it gave the name to the administrative district of which it was the capital and then to the geographical subregion. As in the protohistoric era the Barumini nuragic complex, this manor conditioned the surrounding landscape, which has always been devoted to the production of grain and organized in an economically sufficient balance between the small village, cultivated fields and vegetable gardens along the river; so this district was always among the major producers of wheat and among the highest economic resources for those who governed it. Abandoned for centuries, the castle was removed from the shared heritage of the community of Las Plassas. The recent scientific interest aroused by its history and the territory has allowed to resew once again the link between it and the present community; its structures have been the subject of studies from military architecture and materials points of view; a geoarchaeological survey project attested the intensive use of the territories relevant to the castle from early history up to the present day. In 2013 a multimedia museum has been established, the MudA, which, telling the story of the castle, describes the landscape and daily life of the people who inhabited it.
Il castrum Marmillae: un castello di confine e presidio delle risorse agricole arborensi
The cast... more Il castrum Marmillae: un castello di confine e presidio delle risorse agricole arborensi The castrum Marmillae: a border castle to defend Arborea’s agricultural resources
As geoarchaeology transforms our understanding of cultural landscapes worldwide, new research is ... more As geoarchaeology transforms our understanding of cultural landscapes worldwide, new research is now investigating the Middle Limpopo basin as a linking, or bisecting, frontier in the early to late Iron Age southern Africa – when and where state formation and subsistence systems diversification first emerged. By combining environmental and historical research, this paper illustrates how southern African landscapes and pasts provide an ideal laboratory for developing applied geoarchaeological approaches and techniques to the study of human-environment interactions over time, and help inform current debates on natural and cultural resource management. Once home of farming and herding societies, the Mapungubwe cultural landscape now embodies both a lasting source of precious metals as well as an enclave of plant and animal biodiversity. Here, geoarchaeological survey and opportunistic soil analyses are now revealing important aspects of landscape development and land-use history. While...
Water shortage and excess have always been key actors in many developing regions. As Africa (re-)... more Water shortage and excess have always been key actors in many developing regions. As Africa (re-)discovers its vast groundwater resource, its farmers are busy making provision for next year’s harvests, betting on the rainfall-soil moisture balance. This paper will draw upon recent research in the Ethiopian highlands, the Limpopo valley of South Africa, and the Zimbabwe plateau to discuss how hydrological and landscape records challenge long-held views on water and early state societies. Taking a bottom-up approach, histories written in soils and landforms will be used to illustrate long-term trajectories of water management across different environments.
Open spaces are an integral part of past urban settlement worldwide. Often large and devoid of vi... more Open spaces are an integral part of past urban settlement worldwide. Often large and devoid of visible traces of past activities, these spaces challenge mainstream archaeological approaches to develop methodologies suitable to investigate their history. This study uses geophysical survey, geochemical sampling and artifact distributions to examine open spaces at the Swahili stonetown of Songo Mnara, Tanzania. Initial, magnetic susceptibility survey revealed a set of anomalies associated with activities across the open spaces at the site; a systematic soil/sediment sampling program was applied to map artifact and geochemical distributions across these areas. These data provided a means to distinguish a ‘public space’ at the site: correlations were found between anomalies, daub, certain chemical elements (Fe, P, K, Mn) while areas without anomalies—the ‘public space’—correlated with more fragmented ceramics and other chemical elements (Ca, Na, Mg, Sr). The integrated methodological framework developed at Songo Mnara offers a new way to define areas that may have functioned as ‘public spaces’ as well as possible activities that were carried out in them. The results suggest that open spaces at this Swahili site contained defined and protected public areas where small-scale production may have occurred.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Mar 2014
A wide-ranging geoarchaeological approach is put forward using two case studies in northern highl... more A wide-ranging geoarchaeological approach is put forward using two case studies in northern highland Ethiopia at Aksum and in Haryana province of northwestern India where the authors are part of collaborative archaeological research projects. Geoarchaeological approaches are well placed to underpin archaeological project design and contribute to the understanding and modelling of the human ecosystem legacy. There is also the potential to use that data to both inform wider audiences of the importance of long-term land-use dynamics in shaping our landscapes today and influencing modern land-use policy and implementation.
In T. Tvedt and T. Ostigard (eds.), A History of Water, Series 3, Vol. 1. From Jericho to Cities in the Seas: A History of Urbanization and Water Systems, pp. 171-95. London: I. B. Tauris., 2014
Geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical techniques are increasingly applied to the study of urban ... more Geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical techniques are increasingly applied to the study of urban and domestic space. However, they are seldom performed as part of an integrative approach, where the soil and botanical micro-records are used together. This paper presents the preliminary results of ongoing research at Songo Mnara in Tanzania that combines customised intra-site soil macro- and micromorphological analyses, chemical analysis and the study of phytoliths. The research is part of a multidisciplinary project on the use of urban space in Swahili stonetowns. By eliciting multiple datasets from Songo Mnara, this paper illustrates the potential of integrating geoarchaeology and archaeobotany to investigate the use of space in urban contexts. The approach is a novelty within the context of Swahili archaeology and an emerging one in Africa.
The role of peripheries and satellite settlements around ancient cities is a critical issue in un... more The role of peripheries and satellite settlements around ancient cities is a critical issue in understanding past urban phenomena. The relations between core urban centres and other settlements have often been considered using centre-periphery models. The limitations of such approaches are now emerging as new evidence for interdependency, fluidity, and changeability between cities and their surroundings increases in quality and complexity. This paper reviews the relations between ancient capital centres in Africa and their peripheries, using Aksum and Great Zimbabwe as case studies. It attempts at reconciling indicators of interdependency between these sites and core urban areas that current narratives of urban settlement struggle to accommodate. The exercise opens new avenues to reconfigure spatial representations and understandings of centre-periphery relations at specific sites and begin to think about urban regions and textured landscapes.
The organisation and use of space in domestic contexts remain challenging areas of investigation ... more The organisation and use of space in domestic contexts remain challenging areas of investigation for archaeology due to the complexity and range of site formation and post-depositional processes. In tropical environments, soil processes speed up the degradation of archaeological and environmental records, and relatively ephemeral structures built of mud or clay degrade quickly after abandonment, leaving almost no traces of human activities behind. This paper presents the results of bulk soil and chemical analyses, artefact distribution, and phytolith analysis from the excavation of a daub house at the early medieval site of Unguja Ukuu (c. 7th–14th c. AD), Zanzibar. High-resolution, systematic sampling for microscopic and elemental analyses proved effective in detecting spatial variability in relatively small areas. However, soil chemical enrichment (e.g. Ca, Mg, Mn, P) usually linked to anthropogenic impact on archaeological deposits appears hardly visible in the Unguja Ukuu house deposits. Instead, measurements of a wider range of elements, including trace and rare earth elements (REEs) proved to be important for detecting elemental signatures related to human activities. Contextual sampling of artefacts and phytoliths were crucial to identify sources of chemical enrichment and, thus, build a picture of spatial organisation within the house. The combined multi-scalar sampling strategy with a multi-proxy analytical approach enabled us to define the layout of the daub structure, indoor/outdoor spaces and activity hot-spots. Although macroscopic traces of past activities were almost completely obliterated, archaeological remains of earthen architecture and the use of space can be detected even in such complex tropical settings.
Gallinari L. (ed.), Sardinia from the Middle Ages to Contemporaneity. Bern: Peter Lang., 2018
This chapter presents an overview of landscape history in Sardinia with a particular focus on the... more This chapter presents an overview of landscape history in Sardinia with a particular focus on the ways in which archaeological studies have informed, and have been shaped by, perceptions of the island’s diverse environment over time. By examining the unfolding trends of over a century of archaeological research, narratives about Sardinia’s landscapes and how they have changed over time appear very closely connected to the formation and transformation of multiple identities: from the conservative shepherd society of prehistoric mountains to the villains of medieval farmlands.
Once a thriving center with commercial links to the Indian Ocean, what remains of Great Zimbabwe ... more Once a thriving center with commercial links to the Indian Ocean, what remains of Great Zimbabwe is its monumental architecture. Its rise and decline have long been linked to environmental changes in southern Zimbabwe, beginning in the second half of the 13th century with agropastoralists thriving in the region's well-watered granite hills and valleys, and culminating in a vast urban and trading society. Later, c.1550 AD, it is argued, drying climate, land overexploitation, and changing regional trading patterns would lead to the decline of Great Zim-babwe. A review of this model is necessary since Great Zimbabwe and communities living around it survive in a region constantly threatened by water crises. However, we still know very little on the forms and uses of water and how these have influenced its development and demise. This article offers a multilayered review of available information on water, including new records on environmental sequences, modern water sources, and provisioning models from in and around Great Zimbabwe. The integration of both old and new datasets allows us to follow the history of people-water interaction from early times to the present. We argue that understanding of the local environment was vital in managing both water excesses and shortages in the past, and show that some of this knowledge survives among indigenous communities linked to the site and living in the surrounding landscape. While nearby Masvingo town has persistently lived under water-emergency conditions, farmers around Great Zimbabwe mitigate shortfalls of modern water provision through a balanced and mutually vital interaction with natural water resources such as springs and soil moisture.
Past urban settlements in tropical island environments offer particularly challenging sites for m... more Past urban settlements in tropical island environments offer particularly challenging sites for mainstream archaeology. Often associated with shallow stratigraphic sequences, archaeological sediments and soils in these sites are strongly influenced by local geology and seawater. This study discusses the advantages and challenges of developing an integrated geoarchaeological programme to examine the use of space at the Swahili stonetown of Songo Mnara Island, Tanzania. This exceptionally well preserved site, occupied for less than two centuries (C14th–16th AD), comprises a complex urban layout with stone-built houses, wattle-and-daub structures, funerary complexes, activity areas such as wells, and open areas. The programme has combined geoarchaeological (soil macro- and micromorphology, ICP-AES, pH, EC), geophysical (magnetic susceptibility) and archaeological (large excavations, test trenches, artefact distribution mapping) techniques to investigate the use of space across different contexts. Initial geoarchaeological prospection and opportunistic soil sampling have allowed framing of the island’s environmental settings and archaeological deposits as well as outlining open spaces in between buildings. Subsequent research applied a systematic sampling strategy to map geochemical and artefact distributions in conjunction with context-specific soil micromorphology. The results provide a means to map out the impact of occupation across the site as well as to differentiate between open, roofed and unroofed spaces. ICP-AES results, for example, demonstrate that measurements of Ca, Mg, P, S and Sr levels can help discriminate occupation/activity areas in tropical island environments. They also indicate that the depletion of certain elements (e.g. Na, K, and Ni) should be considered as a means of differentiating between roofed and unroofed spaces. The combination of different methodologies demonstrates the importance of addressing discrepancies as well as correlations between multiple datasets for deciphering features within urban spaces in tropical environments and interpreting ancient activities that occurred within them.
From the 10th to the 15th century, the castle of Marmilla was part of the southern defensive syst... more From the 10th to the 15th century, the castle of Marmilla was part of the southern defensive system of the Kingdom of Arborèa. It controlled an important strategic sector: it represented the power on the outskirts of the State, controlled the plains historically devoted to agricultural production and presided over the communication route. It is a fortification, on the top of a steep hill, built with considerable economic resources justified by its strategic importance. The fortification characterized the landscape of which it was part, being influenced in turn: it gave the name to the administrative district of which it was the capital and then to the geographical subregion. As in the protohistoric era the Barumini nuragic complex, this manor conditioned the surrounding landscape, which has always been devoted to the production of grain and organized in an economically sufficient balance between the small village, cultivated fields and vegetable gardens along the river; so this district was always among the major producers of wheat and among the highest economic resources for those who governed it. Abandoned for centuries, the castle was removed from the shared heritage of the community of Las Plassas. The recent scientific interest aroused by its history and the territory has allowed to resew once again the link between it and the present community; its structures have been the subject of studies from military architecture and materials points of view; a geoarchaeological survey project attested the intensive use of the territories relevant to the castle from early history up to the present day. In 2013 a multimedia museum has been established, the MudA, which, telling the story of the castle, describes the landscape and daily life of the people who inhabited it.
Il castrum Marmillae: un castello di confine e presidio delle risorse agricole arborensi
The cast... more Il castrum Marmillae: un castello di confine e presidio delle risorse agricole arborensi The castrum Marmillae: a border castle to defend Arborea’s agricultural resources
As geoarchaeology transforms our understanding of cultural landscapes worldwide, new research is ... more As geoarchaeology transforms our understanding of cultural landscapes worldwide, new research is now investigating the Middle Limpopo basin as a linking, or bisecting, frontier in the early to late Iron Age southern Africa – when and where state formation and subsistence systems diversification first emerged. By combining environmental and historical research, this paper illustrates how southern African landscapes and pasts provide an ideal laboratory for developing applied geoarchaeological approaches and techniques to the study of human-environment interactions over time, and help inform current debates on natural and cultural resource management. Once home of farming and herding societies, the Mapungubwe cultural landscape now embodies both a lasting source of precious metals as well as an enclave of plant and animal biodiversity. Here, geoarchaeological survey and opportunistic soil analyses are now revealing important aspects of landscape development and land-use history. While...
Water shortage and excess have always been key actors in many developing regions. As Africa (re-)... more Water shortage and excess have always been key actors in many developing regions. As Africa (re-)discovers its vast groundwater resource, its farmers are busy making provision for next year’s harvests, betting on the rainfall-soil moisture balance. This paper will draw upon recent research in the Ethiopian highlands, the Limpopo valley of South Africa, and the Zimbabwe plateau to discuss how hydrological and landscape records challenge long-held views on water and early state societies. Taking a bottom-up approach, histories written in soils and landforms will be used to illustrate long-term trajectories of water management across different environments.
Open spaces are an integral part of past urban settlement worldwide. Often large and devoid of vi... more Open spaces are an integral part of past urban settlement worldwide. Often large and devoid of visible traces of past activities, these spaces challenge mainstream archaeological approaches to develop methodologies suitable to investigate their history. This study uses geophysical survey, geochemical sampling and artifact distributions to examine open spaces at the Swahili stonetown of Songo Mnara, Tanzania. Initial, magnetic susceptibility survey revealed a set of anomalies associated with activities across the open spaces at the site; a systematic soil/sediment sampling program was applied to map artifact and geochemical distributions across these areas. These data provided a means to distinguish a ‘public space’ at the site: correlations were found between anomalies, daub, certain chemical elements (Fe, P, K, Mn) while areas without anomalies—the ‘public space’—correlated with more fragmented ceramics and other chemical elements (Ca, Na, Mg, Sr). The integrated methodological framework developed at Songo Mnara offers a new way to define areas that may have functioned as ‘public spaces’ as well as possible activities that were carried out in them. The results suggest that open spaces at this Swahili site contained defined and protected public areas where small-scale production may have occurred.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Mar 2014
A wide-ranging geoarchaeological approach is put forward using two case studies in northern highl... more A wide-ranging geoarchaeological approach is put forward using two case studies in northern highland Ethiopia at Aksum and in Haryana province of northwestern India where the authors are part of collaborative archaeological research projects. Geoarchaeological approaches are well placed to underpin archaeological project design and contribute to the understanding and modelling of the human ecosystem legacy. There is also the potential to use that data to both inform wider audiences of the importance of long-term land-use dynamics in shaping our landscapes today and influencing modern land-use policy and implementation.
In T. Tvedt and T. Ostigard (eds.), A History of Water, Series 3, Vol. 1. From Jericho to Cities in the Seas: A History of Urbanization and Water Systems, pp. 171-95. London: I. B. Tauris., 2014
Geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical techniques are increasingly applied to the study of urban ... more Geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical techniques are increasingly applied to the study of urban and domestic space. However, they are seldom performed as part of an integrative approach, where the soil and botanical micro-records are used together. This paper presents the preliminary results of ongoing research at Songo Mnara in Tanzania that combines customised intra-site soil macro- and micromorphological analyses, chemical analysis and the study of phytoliths. The research is part of a multidisciplinary project on the use of urban space in Swahili stonetowns. By eliciting multiple datasets from Songo Mnara, this paper illustrates the potential of integrating geoarchaeology and archaeobotany to investigate the use of space in urban contexts. The approach is a novelty within the context of Swahili archaeology and an emerging one in Africa.
For long time, the transition from subsistence economies to far-reaching state systems has been u... more For long time, the transition from subsistence economies to far-reaching state systems has been understood through the lenses of monumentality, material culture, trade and symbols. In Africa, these same layers later laid the foundations for recognising and transforming ancient sites into heritages of global significance from the sandstone cities of Egypt to the coral-built emporia of the Swahili coast to mention but two. Much progress has been made in understanding and protecting monuments and material cultures, but less so on understanding the landscapes, local communities and their interplay with ancient sites over time. In southern Africa, the granitic enclosures and buildings of Great Zimbabwe have long been the focus of research, debates and preservation as the remains of what was once the urban centre of a vast state system. As new research findings are reframing the development of the Zimbabwe culture in the region, local environmental settings and natural resources at Great Zimbabwe remain poorly understood. These knowledge gaps have crucial implications for issues of heritage preservation, interaction with local communities, and economic development. In this paper, we take Great Zimbabwe as a living landscape and discuss its main features integrating old and new data from archaeological, historical and environmental research. New soil sequences from within and around the sites reflect a complex history of water and soil management with indications of localised changes, rather than significant transformation over time. This information has then been integrated with new records originating from collaborative projects between Great Zimbabwe National Monument Authority, local communities, and governmental agencies that inform on traditional uses and beliefs, and policies of natural resource management. By placing Great Zimbabwe in its living landscape, we can access new sources of information for taking stock of the past and its legacies in the present for the benefits of both heritage and people.
The archaeology of Iron Age societies in southern Africa has a long, established tradition of stu... more The archaeology of Iron Age societies in southern Africa has a long, established tradition of studies on the rise of social complexity and trading economies and material culture. As new research findings are now reframing the development, chronology and complexity of the Zimbabwe culture in the region, the local environmental settings and natural resources at the core of cultural and landscape processes remain poorly understood. Indeed, while continental and macro-regional records have allowed establishing general climatic and environmental sequences, we know very little of the landscape history of key centres such as Great Zimbabwe and the interplay between natural resource and people. To begin filling this important knowledge gap, a new research program is now investigating the local environmental sequence of the Great Zimbabwe area using a combination of geoarchaeological, historical and archaeological methods. New soil sequences and water resource data from within and around the World Heritage Site indicate a complex and changing scenario over time. Stratigraphic sequences from so called dhaka pits around the Hill Complex suggest sophisticated water management strategies and changes in water resources. In parallel, mapping of water sources and collection of oral histories from communities around the site provides essential spatial and temporal data to situate the stratigraphic records within a socio-cultural context and to begin addressing water-people history in the greater area of the monument.
Often the site of prolonged occupation and complex stratigraphy, the study of households in urban... more Often the site of prolonged occupation and complex stratigraphy, the study of households in urban contexts is a challenging ground for archaeology worldwide. In Africa, studies of past urban societies have focussed on architecture and conservation, or on subsistence strategies, such as food processing and consumption. Daily routines and indoor activities have received very little attention, perhaps linked to a reliance on small-unit excavations and artefact studies which provide only cursory information on context. Even studies of microscopic remains, such as macrobotanical debris and phytoliths, can only inform on broad scale phenomena unless linked to a spatial approach to archaeology.
A multi-scalar programme at the 14th – 16th century site of Songo Mnara, Tanzania, has sought to provide detail that will address this gap in our knowledge for Swahili urban configurations. The thriving town of Songo Mnara lived for about 150 years as a busy Swahili urban centre, on a neighbouring island to Kilwa Kisiwani. The site is dotted with monumental stonehouses, rich mosques, and other standing remains; archaeology has contributed to this urban landscape by locating daub architecture, sites of former industrial activity, and traces of ephemeral practices.
This paper presents the results of detailed analysis of indoor space at the site using chemical mapping across house floors. We report on the nature and preservation of activity markers in different indoor contexts. This includes the application of a 50cm interval grid to occupation deposits and living surfaces in stone-built houses and daub structures. Nearly 1,000 samples were processed for ICP-AES multi-element analysis (33 elements) and the results were elaborated together with the stratigraphic and artefact records from the excavations. Here we discuss what this analysis can add to our knowledge of life at the site of Songo Mnara, and the implications for studies of urban sites elsewhere in the region.
As geoarchaeology transforms our understanding of cultural landscapes worldwide, new research is ... more As geoarchaeology transforms our understanding of cultural landscapes worldwide, new research is now investigating the Middle Limpopo basin as a linking, or bisecting, frontier in the early to late Iron Age southern Africa – when and where state formation and subsistence systems diversification first emerged.
By combining environmental and historical research, this paper illustrates how southern African landscapes and pasts provide an ideal laboratory for developing applied geoarchaeological approaches and techniques to the study of human-environment interactions over time, and help inform current debates on natural and cultural resource management.
Once home of farming and herding societies, the Mapungubwe cultural landscape now embodies both a lasting source of precious metals as well as an enclave of plant and animal biodiversity. Here, geoarchaeological survey and opportunistic soil analyses are now revealing important aspects of landscape development and land-use history. While the Limpopo river sections preserve evidence of slow, over-bank flooding into the wide plain, buried soil records from the small valley bottoms further into the core of the Mapungubwe cultural landscape point to potential ecological niches conducive of farming, with constant input of rich alluvial-colluvial material from small streams and surrounding sandstone hills. Rather more active environmental conditions are, instead, indicated by K2 valley records, where phases of incipient soil formation were interspersed by pulses of localised disruption. If on the one hand the timing and causes of landscape instability are yet to be ascertained, the first results of geoarchaeological investigations do reflect a diversified environment, where landscape units supported, responded to, changing climate and land-uses over time.
Water shortage and excess have always been key actors in many regions worldwise. As Africa (re)di... more Water shortage and excess have always been key actors in many regions worldwise. As Africa (re)discovers its vast groundwater resource, its farmers are busy making provisions for next year's harvests, betting on the rainfall-soil moisture balance. This paper draws upon recent research in the Ethiopian highlands, the middle Limpopo valley of South Africa and the Zimbabwe plateau to discuss how hydrological and landscape records challenge long-held views on water and early state-socities in Africa. Taking a bottom-up approach, histories written in soils and landforms will be used to illustrate long-term trajectories of water management across different environments.
Cultural landscapes are increasingly becoming part of national parks. The parks deal with the man... more Cultural landscapes are increasingly becoming part of national parks. The parks deal with the management and protection of (endangered) habitats and their natural as well as cultural components, whether these are living communities or physical remnants of past societies. Parks also endeavour to promote tourism for engaging the public and generating income. However, tourism in Africa rarely matches the revenues originating from other economic activities. In South Africa, protection and mining have polarised discourses on heritage conservation and economic development. Increasingly animated debates are now focusing on Mapungubwe, on the Shashe-Limpopo confluence. Mapungubwe was the capital of one of the earliest state-societies in southern Africa and the region is rich in mineral resources. Over the last century, Mapungubwe has been object of different uses: farmland, wild life sanctuary, rehabilitation centre, and hunting ground. Following the establishment of a national park, the ‘Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape’ was proclaimed world heritage property in 2003. This paper outlines the history of Mapungubwe as national and cultural reserve. By drawing on the multiplicity of interests, the paper will contextualise this history within the economic growth of one of the poorest region of South Africa.
Archaeology has taken various shapes to mediate African pasts. Perhaps the greatest challenge tod... more Archaeology has taken various shapes to mediate African pasts. Perhaps the greatest challenge today arises from the engagement (voluntary or not) of archaeologists into developmental and conservationist debates. While governmental and donor community agendas are seldom negotiable, archaeologists are increasingly forced to balancing between the reality of historical data and modern, local practices and the fiction of economic/cultural narratives about Africa’s past, present and, indeed, future. Taking the Konso people as a reference, this paper will illustrate aspects of archaeological practice and negotiation between different stakeholders in the context of indigenous agriculture and conservation practices in SW Ethiopia.
The decline of kingdoms is a common theme of archaeological and historical research. Environmenta... more The decline of kingdoms is a common theme of archaeological and historical research. Environmental degradation and decreased population are often associated with the decline of former political centres. However, complete abandonment is not very common and major centres, such as capitals, while loosing political and economic power, often maintain a rural dimension. Research into the history of rural communities is not an easy task as documentary records, when available, may be limited to issues of land tenure and physical traces may be quite ephemeral. The landscape, thus, is often our main source to investigate the settlement trajectories from urban to rural. This paper discusses the challenges and potential of integrating multiple records to illuminate the ‘dark ages’ of northern Ethiopia at the aftermath of the Aksumite State in the late first millennium AD, for which archaeological evidence is thin. By eliciting historical and environmental records, this paper argues for prolonged settlement and arable land use at Aksum following the decline of the state throughout the second millennium AD.
How do we investigate daily life at a Swahili stone town? Beside material culture, what do we kno... more How do we investigate daily life at a Swahili stone town? Beside material culture, what do we know about Swahili domestic practices? This paper presents the preliminary results of ongoing geoarchaeological research at Songo Mnara combining tailored intra-site soil macro- and micromophological analyses and the study of phytoliths. The aim is to explore the use of indoor and outdoor space as well as to investigate the plant cover associated with the settlement. Research has targeted two houses, a graveyard, a well and two large open areas in between buildings. The preliminary results indicate a differential use of space inside the houses. Systematic chemical mapping of the areas suggests a patterned exploitation of the open spaces. The approach is a novelty within the context of Swahili archaeology and an emerging one beyond Africa.
Is archaeology sustainable in a context of increasingly applied research? What is the relevance o... more Is archaeology sustainable in a context of increasingly applied research? What is the relevance of archaeology in this context? There is a need to bridge research agendas with people’s priorities and develop integrative approaches that allow us to look over the short-term out-puts and push for long-term solutions. By eliciting and integrating data from environmental, archaeological and historical sources, this paper discusses the opportunities and challenges for integrative research in the highland of northern Ethiopia, where diversified agricultural strategies have sustained human settlement for the past three thousand years. However, where there was once the great Aksumite kingdom, there is now inadequate socio-economic development and a recent history of political instability. It is widely accepted that the environmental history of this region lies at the heart of explaining the wider economic, political, social and cultural developments. Indeed, the examination of multiple datasets shows now that Aksum’s countryside enjoyed both prolonged settlement and landscape stability from the mid-fourth millennium BC until the early modern period.
It has often been argued that the success and spread of modern humans since 50,000 years ago was ... more It has often been argued that the success and spread of modern humans since 50,000 years ago was due to a series of key behavioural shifts that conferred particular adaptive advantagesin other words, it was the evolution of modern behaviour that allowed them to ...
River history and settlement pattern in eastern Sardinia: Integrative geoarchaeology in the Rio ... more River history and settlement pattern in eastern Sardinia: Integrative geoarchaeology in the Rio Posada basin / by
Federica Sulas, Rita T. Melis, Charles French, Federico Di Rita, Francesca Montis, Giorgia Ratto, David Redhouse, Giovanni Serreli.
For centuries, the Rio Posada has provided a link between Sardinia’s agricultural coastal plains and the sheep farming societies of its rugged mountain inland. A high concentration of Nuragic (Bronze Age) settlements, a main Roman port and, later, medieval religious and administrative centres were located in its delta. Despite such historical significance and time-depth, virtually nothing is known of the landscape and settlement history of the Rio Posada floodplain and the hinterland which sustained, interacted and merged with changing cultural and political powers of the last three thousand years. To bring research forward, a new research programme is now combining geoarchaeological investigations and palaeobotanical analysis with study of historical records and toponomastics to reconstruct patterns of settlement and land uses in the Rio Posada basin. This paper presents preliminary results of geoarchaeological borehole survey and pollen analyses together with mapping of historical place-names in the floodplain. On the coast, buried levee deposits and channel fills reflect a dynamic plain environment and settlements located on the floodplain edges. Further inland, deep fine alluvial sequences point to low-energy river flow. While dating of these deposits is underway, the new records from the eastern coast of Sardinia can be associated with palaeoenvironmental proxies available for the island and the western Mediterranean in general and, thus, contributing to wider regional climatic and environmental sequences.
Poster presented at:
International Colloquium
The Geoarchaeology of Mediterranean Islands
Cargèse, France - June 30 - July 02, 2015
Intensification of agriculture and irrigation are often considered triggers for both the flourish... more Intensification of agriculture and irrigation are often considered triggers for both the flourishing and demise of ancient civilisations. Was irrigation a key factor in the development and sustainability of urban Aksumite civilization? We argue that tailored adaptive strategies were applied to solve local scale and micro-environmental conditions at Aksum. This conclusion is based on research into water resources in the Aksum area, drawing from historical, archaeological and environmental data. The results call for a rethinking of the forms and use of water resources at ancient Aksum. The characteristics of the environment and traditional farming system are such that intensive irrigation works were not necessary. It appears likely that ancient Aksumites utilized seasonal rainfall and water conservation methods to sustain food production.
As Mediterranean frontiers change, the need for understanding long-term trajectories of Europe’s ... more As Mediterranean frontiers change, the need for understanding long-term trajectories of Europe’s environmental and cultural history deepens. Islands have offered both joins and barriers across the Mediterranean basin – where the divide between the Latin West and Arab-Muslim East world’s first emerged. Amongst the less-explored, Sardinia, the second largest island of the Mediterranean, has provided both a strategic link and a shifting frontier between southern Europe and northern Africa. Already home of peculiar prehistoric civilisations, Sardinia has embraced and rejected most of the cultures engaged in the making the pre-modern Mediterranean from Imperial Rome to the Crown of Aragon. Throughout changing climate, its well-watered pastures together with rough coasts and welcoming harbours, and fertile floodplains and river valleys for grains and orchards have fed external empires and indigenous polities. Yet, Sardinia’s environment, and how it has changed, remain poorly understood and traditional agroecological practices are today perceived as conservative and improvident, even though rural landscapes and communities still hold firm against recurrent floods and fires. Environmental history is, thus, key in a region where biodiversity and economic development are focal points of current political and social agendas.
Recently, new interdisciplinary research is now advancing knowledge on landscapes across the island by integrating methods from the humanities, social sciences and geoscience. Building on these, the proposed session takes an historical ecology approach to discuss islands as landscapes of frontiers, which are mobile in time and space but also constrained by physical boundaries.
'Sa massaria: Historical ecology of traditional farming system in Sardinia between the medieval a... more 'Sa massaria: Historical ecology of traditional farming system in Sardinia between the medieval and modern periods. Settlement and land use'
A key feature of Sardinian culture, traditional farming (massaria) is the focus of an interdisciplinary research program led by the Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea (ISEM) CNR and the Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche dell’Università degli Studi di Cagliari, with funding from Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (L. R. 7 agosto 2007 ‘Promozione della ricerca scientifica e dell’innovazione tecnologica in Sardegna’).
As part of the program, ISEM CNR and Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Cagliari, will held an international workshop on 22-23 March 2016, at ISEM CNR, Aula Boscolo, via G. B. Tuveri n. 128, Cagliari.
The workshop is funded by Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, as part of ‘Sa massaria’ program and the Dipartimento di Storia, Beni Culturali e Territorio, Università di Cagliari.
PhD course 'Approaching pottery studies: current perspectives and future directions'
2-3 Octobe... more PhD course 'Approaching pottery studies: current perspectives and future directions'
2-3 October 2019, UrbNet, Aarhus University
Summary - A prime source of information for archaeologists, pottery has been studied for centuries across a wide range of cultures and periods. From a long-held focus on types and styles, ceramic study is today amongst the most dynamic and diversifying branches within archaeology, where innovative conceptual approaches and methodologies are opening new, exciting avenues into the study of the past. If defining typologies and chronologies remains the priority of any researcher dealing with this type of material, analytical approaches have considerably expanded the number of questions that archaeologists can answer. These include, for example, reconstructing the biography of pots through the profiling of food residues and use wear, mapping the provenance and processing of clay and temper, charting the use, recycling and trade, to mention but a few topics. Further important developments concern the study of people-pot interactions and the ways in which ceramic shapes and decoration evolved as a result of changing social, cultural, and economic relations. The study of the humble pot, thus, is offering new ways in which archaeologists can study societal development, culture transformation, socio-ecological changes and resilience in high-definition. This research led-course will provide the participants with an introduction to a diverse range of methodologies for ceramic studies, from traditional, typologically-driven approaches to state-of-the-art laboratory analyses. In so doing, the course will provide a forum to discuss and reflect on how new research approaches are gradually transforming archaeology.
Special collection of articles published in WIREs Water dedicated to the upcoming 39th Associatio... more Special collection of articles published in WIREs Water dedicated to the upcoming 39th Association for Environmental Archaeology Conference, 29 November - 1 December 2018, Aarhus University, Denmark.
This collection of articles is freely available through December 15, 2018. Happy reading!
This paper takes the Rio Posada as a laboratory to develop and test the application of an histori... more This paper takes the Rio Posada as a laboratory to develop and test the application of an historical ecology approach to the study of landscapes in Sardinia. By applying a context-specific and integrative approach, this paper elicits archaeological, environmental and historical datasets to reconstruct of the long-term interplay between land and people. The river has provided both a resource and a threat to societal development in the region, there is now indication that hillsides, floodplain soils, and marshlands supported diversified agro-ecological practices for millennia.
Elemento fondamentale della cultura sarda, il lavoro contadino (sa massaria) è ora il tema di un’... more Elemento fondamentale della cultura sarda, il lavoro contadino (sa massaria) è ora il tema di un’ampia ricerca interdisciplinare dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea (ISEM) del CNR e il Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche dell’Università degli Studi di Cagliari, grazie al contributo finanziario della Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, L. R. 7 agosto 2007 ‘Promozione della ricerca scientifica e dell’innovazione tecnologica in Sardegna’. Nell’ambito di tale programma, l’ISEM CNR e il Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Cagliari, stanno organizzando un workshop internazionale che avrà luogo il 22-23 marzo 2016, presso l’ISEM CNR, Aula Boscolo, via G. B. Tuveri n. 128, Cagliari. L’evento è finanziato dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna e dal Dipartimento di Storia, Beni Culturali e Territorio, dell’Università di Cagliari. Verranno presentate varie esperienze di studio dell’ecologia storica, del paesaggio rurale e del suo utilizzo agricolo, dal punto di vista delle diverse discipline: la storia, l’archeologia, la geoarcheologia, l’entomologia, la palinologia, la veterinaria. Il fine ultimo è quello di mettere a confronto i vari approcci disciplinari e le varie esperienze di ricerca, in un dibattito costruttivo che consenta di aprire gli orizzonti dei vari partecipanti.
Interverranno Rita Ara, ISEM CNR Daniela Artizzu, Pontificia Facoltà Teologica della Sardegna Andrea Balbo, University of Hamburg, Germany Alessandra Cioppi, ISEM CNR Aldo Aveni Cirino, Archivio di Stato di Cagliari Anna Depalmas, Università di Sassari Bianca Fadda, Università di Cagliari Charles French, University of Cambridge, UK Antonello V. Greco, I.I.S. L. Eidaudi Maria Grazia Mele, ISEM CNR Rita T. Melis, Università di Cagliari Alex Metcalfe, Lancaster University, UK Gianni Murgia, Università di Cagliari Giorgio Murru, MudA Las Plassas Sebastiana Nocco, ISEM CNR Roberto Pantaleoni, Università di Sassari Antonella Pettettieri,Istituto per i beni archeologici e monumentali CNR Elisa Pompianu, Università di Sassari Giuseppe Seche, Università di Cagliari Giovanni Serreli, ISEM CNR Alessandro Soddu, Università di Sassari Federica Sulas, ISEM CNR Gabriella Uccheddu, MudA Las Plassas Mariano Ucchesu, Università di Cagliari Federica Usai, Università di Cagliari Alberto Virdis, Università di Cagliari Marco Zedda, Università di Sassari
Tra il 14 e il 16 giugno 2017 verranno presentati i risultati della ricerca triennale e il libro
... more Tra il 14 e il 16 giugno 2017 verranno presentati i risultati della ricerca triennale e il libro Sa massarìa: Ecologia storica dei sistemi di lavoro contadino in Sardegna a cura di Giovanni Serreli, Rita T. Melis, Charles A.I. French e Federica Sulas Cagliari, Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea, 2017 Il libro è il frutto del progetto di ricerca triennale omonimo, finanziato dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (L.R. 7 agosto 2007 ‘Promozione della ricerca scientifica e dell’innovazione tecnologica in Sardegna’), nel quale si raccolgono i risultati della ricerca assieme a numerosi altri saggi riguardanti il paesaggio, l’uso del territorio, l’insediamento in varie aree della Sardegna dalla protostoria all’età contemporanea. Il progetto è stato condotto dall’Istituto di Storia dell’Europa mediterranea del CNR e dal Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche dell’Università di Cagliari con la collaborazione del Charles McBurney Laboratory, Human Landscapes (University of Cambridge). Sono stati partner del progetto il Comune di Las Plassas e il museo MudA. Nello specifico, il progetto ha visto la collaborazione interdisciplinare di storici, archeologi, geografi, geologi e geoarcheologi, per studiare da vari punti di vista tre aree campione della Sardegna: la Marmilla (e in particolare il territorio di Las Plassas), il bacino del rio Posada e le campagne di Assemini e Decimomannu. Queste aree campione sono state studiate dal punto di vista storico, partendo dalla documentazione medievale e di età moderna, e da quello geoarcheologico, attraverso una serie di trivellazioni e carotaggi, i cui campioni sono stati poi studiati nei migliori dipartimenti specialistici. Il fine era quello di stabilire una linea di evoluzione dell’uso dei territori in oggetto, del paesaggio, delle modalità di insediamento e dell’evoluzione paleoclimatica. I risultati della ricerca, che si auspica possa continuare in futuro, oltre a proporsi come modello di approccio per lo studio del territorio e del paesaggio, in questo libro si confronta con esperienze di studio sull’uso del territorio in altre aree della Sardegna e non solo.
Sa massarìa: Ecologia storica dei sistemi di lavoro contadino in Sardegna a cura di Giovanni Serreli, Rita T. Melis, Charles French e Federica Sulas Cagliari, Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea, 2017, 2017
Sa massarìa: Ecologia storica dei sistemi di lavoro contadino in Sardegna
a cura di Giovanni Serr... more Sa massarìa: Ecologia storica dei sistemi di lavoro contadino in Sardegna a cura di Giovanni Serreli, Rita T. Melis, Charles French e Federica Sulas Cagliari, Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea, 2017 Il libro è il frutto del progetto di ricerca triennale finanziato dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (L.R. 7 / 2007 ‘Promozione della ricerca scientifica e dell’innovazione tecnologica in Sardegna’), nel quale si raccolgono i risultati della ricerca con numerosi altri saggi riguardanti paesaggio, uso del territorio, insediamento in varie aree della Sardegna dalla protostoria all’età contemporanea. Il progetto è stato condotto dall’ISEM CNR e dal Dip. di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche dell’Università di Cagliari con la collaborazione del Charles McBurney Laboratory, Human Landscapes (University of Cambridge). Sono stati partner del progetto il Comune di Las Plassas e il museo MudA. Nello specifico, il progetto ha visto la collaborazione interdisciplinare di storici, archeologi, geografi, geologi e geoarcheologi, per studiare tre aree campione: la Marmilla (e in particolare il territorio di Las Plassas), il bacino del rio Posada e le campagne di Assemini e Decimomannu. Queste aree sono state studiate dal punto di vista storico, partendo dalla documentazione medievale e moderna, e da quello geoarcheologico, attraverso una serie di trivellazioni e carotaggi, i cui campioni sono stati poi analizzati in dipartimenti specialistici. Il fine era quello di stabilire una linea di evoluzione dell’uso dei territori in oggetto, del paesaggio, delle modalità di insediamento e dell’evoluzione paleoclimatica. I risultati della ricerca, che si auspica possa continuare in futuro, oltre a proporsi come modello di approccio per lo studio del territorio e del paesaggio, in questo libro si confronta con esperienze di studio sull’uso del territorio in altre aree della Sardegna e non solo. Al libro, in due volumi, hanno partecipato: Rita Ara, Anna Ardu, Danila Artizzu, Aldo Aveni Cirino, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Franco G.R. Campus, Alfredo Carannante, Francesco Carboni, Salvatore Chilardi, Riccardo Cicilloni, Alessandra Cioppi, Anna Depalmas, Guy D’Hallewin, Federico Di Rita, Bianca Fadda, Giacomo Floris, Charles French, Antonello V. Greco, Maria Grazia R. Mele, Rita T. Melis, Alex Metcalfe, Francesca Montis, Clizia Murgia, Giovanni Murgia, Martino Orrù, Mauro Perra, Elisa Pompianu, David Redhouse, Marco Sarigu, Silvia Sau, Giuseppe Seche, Luigi Serra, Maily Serra, Giovanni Serreli, Alessandro Soddu, Federica Sulas, Sean Taylor, Gabriella Uccheddu, Mariano Ucchesu, Alessandro Usai, Federica Usai, Alberto Virdis, Marco Zedda.
Sa massarìa: Ecologia storica dei sistemi di lavoro contadino in Sardegna
a cura di Giovanni Serr... more Sa massarìa: Ecologia storica dei sistemi di lavoro contadino in Sardegna a cura di Giovanni Serreli, Rita T. Melis, Charles French e Federica Sulas Cagliari, Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea, 2017 Il libro è il frutto del progetto di ricerca triennale finanziato dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (L.R. 7 / 2007 ‘Promozione della ricerca scientifica e dell’innovazione tecnologica in Sardegna’), nel quale si raccolgono i risultati della ricerca con numerosi altri saggi riguardanti paesaggio, uso del territorio, insediamento in varie aree della Sardegna dalla protostoria all’età contemporanea. Il progetto è stato condotto dall’ISEM CNR e dal Dip. di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche dell’Università di Cagliari con la collaborazione del Charles McBurney Laboratory, Human Landscapes (University of Cambridge). Sono stati partner del progetto il Comune di Las Plassas e il museo MudA. Nello specifico, il progetto ha visto la collaborazione interdisciplinare di storici, archeologi, geografi, geologi e geoarcheologi, per studiare tre aree campione: la Marmilla (e in particolare il territorio di Las Plassas), il bacino del rio Posada e le campagne di Assemini e Decimomannu. Queste aree sono state studiate dal punto di vista storico, partendo dalla documentazione medievale e moderna, e da quello geoarcheologico, attraverso una serie di trivellazioni e carotaggi, i cui campioni sono stati poi analizzati in dipartimenti specialistici. Il fine era quello di stabilire una linea di evoluzione dell’uso dei territori in oggetto, del paesaggio, delle modalità di insediamento e dell’evoluzione paleoclimatica. I risultati della ricerca, che si auspica possa continuare in futuro, oltre a proporsi come modello di approccio per lo studio del territorio e del paesaggio, in questo libro si confronta con esperienze di studio sull’uso del territorio in altre aree della Sardegna e non solo. Al libro, in due volumi, hanno partecipato: Rita Ara, Anna Ardu, Danila Artizzu, Aldo Aveni Cirino, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Franco G.R. Campus, Alfredo Carannante, Francesco Carboni, Salvatore Chilardi, Riccardo Cicilloni, Alessandra Cioppi, Anna Depalmas, Guy D’Hallewin, Federico Di Rita, Bianca Fadda, Giacomo Floris, Charles French, Antonello V. Greco, Maria Grazia R. Mele, Rita T. Melis, Alex Metcalfe, Francesca Montis, Clizia Murgia, Giovanni Murgia, Martino Orrù, Mauro Perra, Elisa Pompianu, David Redhouse, Marco Sarigu, Silvia Sau, Giuseppe Seche, Luigi Serra, Maily Serra, Giovanni Serreli, Alessandro Soddu, Federica Sulas, Sean Taylor, Gabriella Uccheddu, Mariano Ucchesu, Alessandro Usai, Federica Usai, Alberto Virdis, Marco Zedda.
Sulas, F., Bagge, M.S., Enevold, R., Harrault, L., Kristiansen, S.M., Ljungberg, T., Milek, K., M... more Sulas, F., Bagge, M.S., Enevold, R., Harrault, L., Kristiansen, S.M., Ljungberg, T., Milek, K., Mikkelsen, P.H., Jensen, P.M., Orfanou, V., Out, W.A., Portillo, M. Sindbæk, S.M. 2022. Revealing the invisible dead: integrated bio-geoarchaeological profiling exposes human and animal remains in a seemingly ‘empty’ Viking-Age burial. Journal of Archaeological Science 141, 105589. Open acces: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440322000474
Recent investigations of an apparently ‘empty,’ partly disturbed Viking chamber grave in Denmark (Fregerslev II, dated around the mid-10th century CE) provided an opportunity to develop a novel multi-scale and multi-method analysis of burial and post-burial processes. To overcome the limitations of poor preservation of artefacts and bones, and the lack of a clear macrostratigraphic sequence, we integrated multi-proxy analyses of organic and inorganic materials to study the spatial architecture, burial, and post-depositional processes, including soil chemistry (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry - ICPMS, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer - pXRF), soil micromorphology, archaeobotany (wood, seeds, fruits, phytoliths), palynology (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs), and faecal lipid biomarkers. The results enabled the detailed characterisation, spatial analysis, and sequencing of burial deposits, and the identification of post-depositional factors responsible for the poor preservation of the burial. Soil, phytolith and pollen data indicated that the base of the grave was covered with a matting of plant material, and there was no wooden floor. Faecal biomarkers detected substantial amounts of faecal matter, most probably originating from horse faeces, suggesting that a horse died in situ, and trace amounts of pig faeces, which are more likely to have been trampled into the grave. Enriched phosphorus concentrations could be linked to the bodies in the northern and southern sector of the grave. Furthermore, enrichment in lead was found where metal objects were recovered. The findings from Fregerslev II show that integrating high-resolution approaches to the analysis of poorly preserved burial contexts can fundamentally transform archaeological interpretations.
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Papers by Federica Sulas
structures built of mud or clay degrade quickly after abandonment, leaving almost no traces of human activities behind. This paper presents the results of bulk soil and chemical analyses, artefact distribution, and phytolith analysis from the excavation of a daub house at the early medieval site of Unguja Ukuu (c. 7th–14th c. AD), Zanzibar. High-resolution, systematic sampling for microscopic and elemental analyses proved effective in detecting spatial variability in relatively small areas. However, soil chemical enrichment (e.g. Ca, Mg, Mn, P) usually linked to anthropogenic impact on archaeological deposits appears hardly visible in the Unguja Ukuu house deposits. Instead, measurements of a wider range of elements, including trace and rare earth elements (REEs) proved to be important for detecting elemental signatures related to human activities. Contextual sampling of artefacts and phytoliths were crucial to identify sources of chemical enrichment and, thus, build a picture of spatial organisation within the house. The combined multi-scalar sampling strategy with a multi-proxy analytical approach enabled us to define the layout of the daub structure, indoor/outdoor spaces and activity hot-spots. Although macroscopic traces of past activities were almost completely obliterated, archaeological remains of earthen architecture and the use of space can be detected even in such complex tropical settings.
the Kingdom of Arborèa. It controlled an important strategic sector: it represented the power on the
outskirts of the State, controlled the plains historically devoted to agricultural production and presided
over the communication route. It is a fortification, on the top of a steep hill, built with considerable
economic resources justified by its strategic importance. The fortification characterized the landscape
of which it was part, being influenced in turn: it gave the name to the administrative district of which it
was the capital and then to the geographical subregion.
As in the protohistoric era the Barumini nuragic complex, this manor conditioned the surrounding
landscape, which has always been devoted to the production of grain and organized in an economically
sufficient balance between the small village, cultivated fields and vegetable gardens along the river; so
this district was always among the major producers of wheat and among the highest economic
resources for those who governed it.
Abandoned for centuries, the castle was removed from the shared heritage of the community of Las
Plassas. The recent scientific interest aroused by its history and the territory has allowed to resew once
again the link between it and the present community; its structures have been the subject of studies
from military architecture and materials points of view; a geoarchaeological survey project attested the
intensive use of the territories relevant to the castle from early history up to the present day. In 2013 a
multimedia museum has been established, the MudA, which, telling the story of the castle, describes
the landscape and daily life of the people who inhabited it.
The castrum Marmillae: a border castle to defend Arborea’s agricultural resources
structures built of mud or clay degrade quickly after abandonment, leaving almost no traces of human activities behind. This paper presents the results of bulk soil and chemical analyses, artefact distribution, and phytolith analysis from the excavation of a daub house at the early medieval site of Unguja Ukuu (c. 7th–14th c. AD), Zanzibar. High-resolution, systematic sampling for microscopic and elemental analyses proved effective in detecting spatial variability in relatively small areas. However, soil chemical enrichment (e.g. Ca, Mg, Mn, P) usually linked to anthropogenic impact on archaeological deposits appears hardly visible in the Unguja Ukuu house deposits. Instead, measurements of a wider range of elements, including trace and rare earth elements (REEs) proved to be important for detecting elemental signatures related to human activities. Contextual sampling of artefacts and phytoliths were crucial to identify sources of chemical enrichment and, thus, build a picture of spatial organisation within the house. The combined multi-scalar sampling strategy with a multi-proxy analytical approach enabled us to define the layout of the daub structure, indoor/outdoor spaces and activity hot-spots. Although macroscopic traces of past activities were almost completely obliterated, archaeological remains of earthen architecture and the use of space can be detected even in such complex tropical settings.
the Kingdom of Arborèa. It controlled an important strategic sector: it represented the power on the
outskirts of the State, controlled the plains historically devoted to agricultural production and presided
over the communication route. It is a fortification, on the top of a steep hill, built with considerable
economic resources justified by its strategic importance. The fortification characterized the landscape
of which it was part, being influenced in turn: it gave the name to the administrative district of which it
was the capital and then to the geographical subregion.
As in the protohistoric era the Barumini nuragic complex, this manor conditioned the surrounding
landscape, which has always been devoted to the production of grain and organized in an economically
sufficient balance between the small village, cultivated fields and vegetable gardens along the river; so
this district was always among the major producers of wheat and among the highest economic
resources for those who governed it.
Abandoned for centuries, the castle was removed from the shared heritage of the community of Las
Plassas. The recent scientific interest aroused by its history and the territory has allowed to resew once
again the link between it and the present community; its structures have been the subject of studies
from military architecture and materials points of view; a geoarchaeological survey project attested the
intensive use of the territories relevant to the castle from early history up to the present day. In 2013 a
multimedia museum has been established, the MudA, which, telling the story of the castle, describes
the landscape and daily life of the people who inhabited it.
The castrum Marmillae: a border castle to defend Arborea’s agricultural resources
By placing Great Zimbabwe in its living landscape, we can access new sources of information for taking stock of the past and its legacies in the present for the benefits of both heritage and people.
A multi-scalar programme at the 14th – 16th century site of Songo Mnara, Tanzania, has sought to provide detail that will address this gap in our knowledge for Swahili urban configurations. The thriving town of Songo Mnara lived for about 150 years as a busy Swahili urban centre, on a neighbouring island to Kilwa Kisiwani. The site is dotted with monumental stonehouses, rich mosques, and other standing remains; archaeology has contributed to this urban landscape by locating daub architecture, sites of former industrial activity, and traces of ephemeral practices.
This paper presents the results of detailed analysis of indoor space at the site using chemical mapping across house floors. We report on the nature and preservation of activity markers in different indoor contexts. This includes the application of a 50cm interval grid to occupation deposits and living surfaces in stone-built houses and daub structures. Nearly 1,000 samples were processed for ICP-AES multi-element analysis (33 elements) and the results were elaborated together with the stratigraphic and artefact records from the excavations. Here we discuss what this analysis can add to our knowledge of life at the site of Songo Mnara, and the implications for studies of urban sites elsewhere in the region.
By combining environmental and historical research, this paper illustrates how southern African landscapes and pasts provide an ideal laboratory for developing applied geoarchaeological approaches and techniques to the study of human-environment interactions over time, and help inform current debates on natural and cultural resource management.
Once home of farming and herding societies, the Mapungubwe cultural landscape now embodies both a lasting source of precious metals as well as an enclave of plant and animal biodiversity. Here, geoarchaeological survey and opportunistic soil analyses are now revealing important aspects of landscape development and land-use history. While the Limpopo river sections preserve evidence of slow, over-bank flooding into the wide plain, buried soil records from the small valley bottoms further into the core of the Mapungubwe cultural landscape point to potential ecological niches conducive of farming, with constant input of rich alluvial-colluvial material from small streams and surrounding sandstone hills. Rather more active environmental conditions are, instead, indicated by K2 valley records, where phases of incipient soil formation were interspersed by pulses of localised disruption. If on the one hand the timing and causes of landscape instability are yet to be ascertained, the first results of geoarchaeological investigations do reflect a diversified environment, where landscape units supported, responded to, changing climate and land-uses over time.
By eliciting and integrating data from environmental, archaeological and historical sources, this paper discusses the opportunities and challenges for integrative research in the highland of northern Ethiopia, where diversified agricultural strategies have sustained human settlement for the past three thousand years. However, where there was once the great Aksumite kingdom, there is now inadequate socio-economic development and a recent history of political instability. It is widely accepted that the environmental history of this region lies at the heart of explaining the wider economic, political, social and cultural developments. Indeed, the examination of multiple datasets shows now that Aksum’s countryside enjoyed both prolonged settlement and landscape stability from the mid-fourth millennium BC until the early modern period.
Federica Sulas, Rita T. Melis, Charles French, Federico Di Rita, Francesca Montis, Giorgia Ratto, David Redhouse, Giovanni Serreli.
For centuries, the Rio Posada has provided a link between Sardinia’s agricultural coastal plains and the sheep farming societies of its rugged mountain inland. A high concentration of Nuragic (Bronze Age) settlements, a main Roman port and, later, medieval religious and administrative centres were located in its delta. Despite such historical significance and time-depth, virtually nothing is known of the landscape and settlement history of the Rio Posada floodplain and the hinterland which sustained, interacted and merged with changing cultural and political powers of the last three thousand years. To bring research forward, a new research programme is now combining geoarchaeological investigations and palaeobotanical analysis with study of historical records and toponomastics to reconstruct patterns of settlement and land uses in the Rio Posada basin. This paper presents preliminary results of geoarchaeological borehole survey and pollen analyses together with mapping of historical place-names in the floodplain. On the coast, buried levee deposits and channel fills reflect a dynamic plain environment and settlements located on the floodplain edges. Further inland, deep fine alluvial sequences point to low-energy river flow. While dating of these deposits is underway, the new records from the eastern coast of Sardinia can be associated with palaeoenvironmental proxies available for the island and the western Mediterranean in general and, thus, contributing to wider regional climatic and environmental sequences.
Poster presented at:
International Colloquium
The Geoarchaeology of Mediterranean Islands
Cargèse, France - June 30 - July 02, 2015
Recently, new interdisciplinary research is now advancing knowledge on landscapes across the island by integrating methods from the humanities, social sciences and geoscience. Building on these, the proposed session takes an historical ecology approach to discuss islands as landscapes of frontiers, which are mobile in time and space but also constrained by physical boundaries.
A key feature of Sardinian culture, traditional farming (massaria) is the focus of an interdisciplinary research program led by the Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea (ISEM) CNR and the Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche dell’Università degli Studi di Cagliari, with funding from Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (L. R. 7 agosto 2007 ‘Promozione della ricerca scientifica e dell’innovazione tecnologica in Sardegna’).
As part of the program, ISEM CNR and Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Cagliari, will held an international workshop on 22-23 March 2016, at ISEM CNR, Aula Boscolo, via G. B. Tuveri n. 128, Cagliari.
The workshop is funded by Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, as part of ‘Sa massaria’ program and the Dipartimento di Storia, Beni Culturali e Territorio, Università di Cagliari.
2-3 October 2019, UrbNet, Aarhus University
Summary - A prime source of information for archaeologists, pottery has been studied for centuries across a wide range of cultures and periods. From a long-held focus on types and styles, ceramic study is today amongst the most dynamic and diversifying branches within archaeology, where innovative conceptual approaches and methodologies are opening new, exciting avenues into the study of the past. If defining typologies and chronologies remains the priority of any researcher dealing with this type of material, analytical approaches have considerably expanded the number of questions that archaeologists can answer. These include, for example, reconstructing the biography of pots through the profiling of food residues and use wear, mapping the provenance and processing of clay and temper, charting the use, recycling and trade, to mention but a few topics. Further important developments concern the study of people-pot interactions and the ways in which ceramic shapes and decoration evolved as a result of changing social, cultural, and economic relations. The study of the humble pot, thus, is offering new ways in which archaeologists can study societal development, culture transformation, socio-ecological changes and resilience in high-definition. This research led-course will provide the participants with an introduction to a diverse range of methodologies for ceramic studies, from traditional, typologically-driven approaches to state-of-the-art laboratory analyses. In so doing, the course will provide a forum to discuss and reflect on how new research approaches are gradually transforming archaeology.
Register: https://phdcourses.dk/Course/65813
This collection of articles is freely available through December 15, 2018.
Happy reading!
Nell’ambito di tale programma, l’ISEM CNR e il Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Cagliari, stanno organizzando un workshop internazionale che avrà luogo il 22-23 marzo 2016, presso l’ISEM CNR, Aula Boscolo, via G. B. Tuveri n. 128, Cagliari.
L’evento è finanziato dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna e dal Dipartimento di Storia, Beni Culturali e Territorio, dell’Università di Cagliari.
Verranno presentate varie esperienze di studio dell’ecologia storica, del paesaggio rurale e del suo utilizzo agricolo, dal punto di vista delle diverse discipline: la storia, l’archeologia, la geoarcheologia, l’entomologia, la palinologia, la veterinaria. Il fine ultimo è quello di mettere a confronto i vari approcci disciplinari e le varie esperienze di ricerca, in un dibattito costruttivo che consenta di aprire gli orizzonti dei vari partecipanti.
Interverranno
Rita Ara, ISEM CNR
Daniela Artizzu, Pontificia Facoltà Teologica della Sardegna
Andrea Balbo, University of Hamburg, Germany
Alessandra Cioppi, ISEM CNR
Aldo Aveni Cirino, Archivio di Stato di Cagliari
Anna Depalmas, Università di Sassari
Bianca Fadda, Università di Cagliari
Charles French, University of Cambridge, UK
Antonello V. Greco, I.I.S. L. Eidaudi
Maria Grazia Mele, ISEM CNR
Rita T. Melis, Università di Cagliari
Alex Metcalfe, Lancaster University, UK
Gianni Murgia, Università di Cagliari
Giorgio Murru, MudA Las Plassas
Sebastiana Nocco, ISEM CNR
Roberto Pantaleoni, Università di Sassari
Antonella Pettettieri,Istituto per i beni archeologici e monumentali CNR
Elisa Pompianu, Università di Sassari
Giuseppe Seche, Università di Cagliari
Giovanni Serreli, ISEM CNR
Alessandro Soddu, Università di Sassari
Federica Sulas, ISEM CNR
Gabriella Uccheddu, MudA Las Plassas
Mariano Ucchesu, Università di Cagliari
Federica Usai, Università di Cagliari
Alberto Virdis, Università di Cagliari
Marco Zedda, Università di Sassari
Sa massarìa: Ecologia storica dei sistemi di lavoro contadino in Sardegna
a cura di Giovanni Serreli, Rita T. Melis, Charles A.I. French e Federica Sulas
Cagliari, Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea, 2017
Il libro è il frutto del progetto di ricerca triennale omonimo, finanziato dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (L.R. 7 agosto 2007 ‘Promozione della ricerca scientifica e dell’innovazione tecnologica in Sardegna’), nel quale si raccolgono i risultati della ricerca assieme a numerosi altri saggi riguardanti il paesaggio, l’uso del territorio, l’insediamento in varie aree della Sardegna dalla protostoria all’età contemporanea.
Il progetto è stato condotto dall’Istituto di Storia dell’Europa mediterranea del CNR e dal Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche dell’Università di Cagliari con la collaborazione del Charles McBurney Laboratory, Human Landscapes (University of Cambridge). Sono stati partner del progetto il Comune di Las Plassas e il museo MudA.
Nello specifico, il progetto ha visto la collaborazione interdisciplinare di storici, archeologi, geografi, geologi e geoarcheologi, per studiare da vari punti di vista tre aree campione della Sardegna: la Marmilla (e in particolare il territorio di Las Plassas), il bacino del rio Posada e le campagne di Assemini e Decimomannu.
Queste aree campione sono state studiate dal punto di vista storico, partendo dalla documentazione medievale e di età moderna, e da quello geoarcheologico, attraverso una serie di trivellazioni e carotaggi, i cui campioni sono stati poi studiati nei migliori dipartimenti specialistici. Il fine era quello di stabilire una linea di evoluzione dell’uso dei territori in oggetto, del paesaggio, delle modalità di insediamento e dell’evoluzione paleoclimatica.
I risultati della ricerca, che si auspica possa continuare in futuro, oltre a proporsi come modello di approccio per lo studio del territorio e del paesaggio, in questo libro si confronta con esperienze di studio sull’uso del territorio in altre aree della Sardegna e non solo.
a cura di Giovanni Serreli, Rita T. Melis, Charles French e Federica Sulas
Cagliari, Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea, 2017
Il libro è il frutto del progetto di ricerca triennale finanziato dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (L.R. 7 / 2007 ‘Promozione della ricerca scientifica e dell’innovazione tecnologica in Sardegna’), nel quale si raccolgono i risultati della ricerca con numerosi altri saggi riguardanti paesaggio, uso del territorio, insediamento in varie aree della Sardegna dalla protostoria all’età contemporanea.
Il progetto è stato condotto dall’ISEM CNR e dal Dip. di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche dell’Università di Cagliari con la collaborazione del Charles McBurney Laboratory, Human Landscapes (University of Cambridge). Sono stati partner del progetto il Comune di Las Plassas e il museo MudA.
Nello specifico, il progetto ha visto la collaborazione interdisciplinare di storici, archeologi, geografi, geologi e geoarcheologi, per studiare tre aree campione: la Marmilla (e in particolare il territorio di Las Plassas), il bacino del rio Posada e le campagne di Assemini e Decimomannu.
Queste aree sono state studiate dal punto di vista storico, partendo dalla documentazione medievale e moderna, e da quello geoarcheologico, attraverso una serie di trivellazioni e carotaggi, i cui campioni sono stati poi analizzati in dipartimenti specialistici. Il fine era quello di stabilire una linea di evoluzione dell’uso dei territori in oggetto, del paesaggio, delle modalità di insediamento e dell’evoluzione paleoclimatica.
I risultati della ricerca, che si auspica possa continuare in futuro, oltre a proporsi come modello di approccio per lo studio del territorio e del paesaggio, in questo libro si confronta con esperienze di studio sull’uso del territorio in altre aree della Sardegna e non solo.
Al libro, in due volumi, hanno partecipato: Rita Ara, Anna Ardu, Danila Artizzu, Aldo Aveni Cirino, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Franco G.R. Campus, Alfredo Carannante, Francesco Carboni, Salvatore Chilardi, Riccardo Cicilloni, Alessandra Cioppi, Anna Depalmas, Guy D’Hallewin, Federico Di Rita, Bianca Fadda, Giacomo Floris, Charles French, Antonello V. Greco, Maria Grazia R. Mele, Rita T. Melis, Alex Metcalfe, Francesca Montis, Clizia Murgia, Giovanni Murgia, Martino Orrù, Mauro Perra, Elisa Pompianu, David Redhouse, Marco Sarigu, Silvia Sau, Giuseppe Seche, Luigi Serra, Maily Serra, Giovanni Serreli, Alessandro Soddu, Federica Sulas, Sean Taylor, Gabriella Uccheddu, Mariano Ucchesu, Alessandro Usai, Federica Usai, Alberto Virdis, Marco Zedda.
a cura di Giovanni Serreli, Rita T. Melis, Charles French e Federica Sulas
Cagliari, Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea, 2017
Il libro è il frutto del progetto di ricerca triennale finanziato dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (L.R. 7 / 2007 ‘Promozione della ricerca scientifica e dell’innovazione tecnologica in Sardegna’), nel quale si raccolgono i risultati della ricerca con numerosi altri saggi riguardanti paesaggio, uso del territorio, insediamento in varie aree della Sardegna dalla protostoria all’età contemporanea.
Il progetto è stato condotto dall’ISEM CNR e dal Dip. di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche dell’Università di Cagliari con la collaborazione del Charles McBurney Laboratory, Human Landscapes (University of Cambridge). Sono stati partner del progetto il Comune di Las Plassas e il museo MudA.
Nello specifico, il progetto ha visto la collaborazione interdisciplinare di storici, archeologi, geografi, geologi e geoarcheologi, per studiare tre aree campione: la Marmilla (e in particolare il territorio di Las Plassas), il bacino del rio Posada e le campagne di Assemini e Decimomannu.
Queste aree sono state studiate dal punto di vista storico, partendo dalla documentazione medievale e moderna, e da quello geoarcheologico, attraverso una serie di trivellazioni e carotaggi, i cui campioni sono stati poi analizzati in dipartimenti specialistici. Il fine era quello di stabilire una linea di evoluzione dell’uso dei territori in oggetto, del paesaggio, delle modalità di insediamento e dell’evoluzione paleoclimatica.
I risultati della ricerca, che si auspica possa continuare in futuro, oltre a proporsi come modello di approccio per lo studio del territorio e del paesaggio, in questo libro si confronta con esperienze di studio sull’uso del territorio in altre aree della Sardegna e non solo.
Al libro, in due volumi, hanno partecipato: Rita Ara, Anna Ardu, Danila Artizzu, Aldo Aveni Cirino, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Franco G.R. Campus, Alfredo Carannante, Francesco Carboni, Salvatore Chilardi, Riccardo Cicilloni, Alessandra Cioppi, Anna Depalmas, Guy D’Hallewin, Federico Di Rita, Bianca Fadda, Giacomo Floris, Charles French, Antonello V. Greco, Maria Grazia R. Mele, Rita T. Melis, Alex Metcalfe, Francesca Montis, Clizia Murgia, Giovanni Murgia, Martino Orrù, Mauro Perra, Elisa Pompianu, David Redhouse, Marco Sarigu, Silvia Sau, Giuseppe Seche, Luigi Serra, Maily Serra, Giovanni Serreli, Alessandro Soddu, Federica Sulas, Sean Taylor, Gabriella Uccheddu, Mariano Ucchesu, Alessandro Usai, Federica Usai, Alberto Virdis, Marco Zedda.
Recent investigations of an apparently ‘empty,’ partly disturbed Viking chamber grave in Denmark (Fregerslev II, dated around the mid-10th century CE) provided an opportunity to develop a novel multi-scale and multi-method analysis of burial and post-burial processes. To overcome the limitations of poor preservation of artefacts and bones, and the lack of a clear macrostratigraphic sequence, we integrated multi-proxy analyses of organic and inorganic materials to study the spatial architecture, burial, and post-depositional processes, including soil chemistry (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry - ICPMS, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer - pXRF), soil micromorphology, archaeobotany (wood, seeds, fruits, phytoliths), palynology (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs), and faecal lipid biomarkers. The results enabled the detailed characterisation, spatial analysis, and sequencing of burial deposits, and the identification of post-depositional factors responsible for the poor preservation of the burial. Soil, phytolith and pollen data indicated that the base of the grave was covered with a matting of plant material, and there was no wooden floor. Faecal biomarkers detected substantial amounts of faecal matter, most probably originating from horse faeces, suggesting that a horse died in situ, and trace amounts of pig faeces, which are more likely to have been trampled into the grave. Enriched phosphorus concentrations could be linked to the bodies in the northern and southern sector of the grave. Furthermore, enrichment in lead was found where metal objects were recovered. The findings from Fregerslev II show that integrating high-resolution approaches to the analysis of poorly preserved burial contexts can fundamentally transform archaeological interpretations.