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Please cite the following related publication: Ortega J, Meersman MFL, Aparicio S, Liébana JC, Anaya JJ, González M. Influence of stress level and damage on sonic tomography imaging and on the estimation of deformability properties of historic stone masonry. Construction and Building Materials 417,135285 (2024) (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.135285) Abstract: The paper evaluates the sensitivity of sonic tomography imaging of historic masonry structures to variations in stress level and damage. Six stone masonry walls with different geometries representative of historical typologies were constructed by a professional mason. A laboratory campaign was carried out, subjecting the walls to cyclic uniaxial compression tests. During the test, an automated sonic tomography system was used to inspect the wall under loading cycles of increasing amplitude, which led to obtain tomographic images during loading and compare them under different stress level and damage condition. The use of robotic systems was proved essentialto carry out the sonic inspections simultaneously to the compression tests. Results show that sonic wave propagation is not only sensitive to damage level, but also to the stress state. Thus, sonic tomography has the potential to be used to measure damage and stress level of masonry components over time, for example during renovationworks on an existing construction.

Palaeolithic sites are complex palimpsests due to the recurrent presence of human groups and carnivores through time, as documented in several European caves and rock shelters. Within these contexts, it can be challenging to identify the main contributors to bone accumulations and interpret human subsistence strategies and the role of carnivores. Consequently, taphonomic analyses are crucial for distinguishing the origins of these occupation episodes. One example of alternating occupations is found at El Castillo cave (Cantabria, Spain), specifically in the so-called Transitional Aurignacian level (∼46-42 ka uncal BP). According to a recent study conducted at this level (Luret et al., 2020), the human groups had a hunting specialisation focused on red deer, while carnivores had little influence on the assemblage. However, these interpretations were based only on the faunal assemblage from the recent excavations (1980–2011). A previous excavation phase was conducted on this site from 1910 to 1914, and after that, the faunal remains recovered were separated across several institutions, lacking a complete archaeozoological and taphonomic analysis of the whole level. In this work, a new taxonomic assessment and, for the first time, a taphonomic study of the macrofauna recovered in the Aurignacian Delta level during the initial excavations, stored at Museo Nacional y Centro de Investigación de Altamira (Cantabria, Spain), is carried out. This work provides new information about the human and carnivore groups that occupied El Castillo, constructing new hypotheses to interpret this relevant archaeological level.

AbstractDuring the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, the territory of western Somaliland was integrated into a series of Muslim states which controlled large areas of the southeastern Horn of Africa. One of the ways this control manifested itself was in the emergence of a network of permanent settlements on the westernmost side of Somaliland and the neighboring Ethiopian region. Although 20 of these sites have been identified so far, our information about most of them is fragmentary at best. This paper presents a comprehensive study of the material, architectural and territorial context of three of these medieval sites: Abasa (Darbiyah Kola), Hasadinle, and Iskudarka. This paper analyzes the information they provide us for understanding some of the key themes of the history of the region, such as the strategies of state control, the process of Islamization, the relationships between nomads and urban dwellers, and the material expressions of hierarchization and social inequality.

Entre los sistemas criptográficos europeos de la Edad Moderna, la Cifra nova Indiae Orientalis (1601), manuscrito rescatado en la Real Academia de la Historia de Madrid, compuesto por el secretario de la Compañía de Jesús Bernardo de Angelis, es la última clave de cifra que los superiores jesuitas utilizaron en los años de su expulsión de Japón. La presente investigación analiza la evolución de la pasigrafía asiática en los siglos XVI y XVII, y trata de examinar determinadas circunstancias históricas en las que la Cifra nova, códice hasta ahora inédito, se utilizó en la correspondencia de los jesuitas.

AbstractThe use of high‐resolution silicone moulds for documenting bone surface modifications, such as cut marks, is common. However, it has not been evaluated whether moulding can affect the originals. In this work, the modification level derived from several moulding–demoulding processes on an experimental sample of cut marks has been characterised using geometric Morphometrics. It has been shown that moulds influence the morphology of cut marks, reducing their variability, and making the sample more homogeneous. These modifications do not affect the identification of cut marks, but if not considered, may have an effect on more specialised studies.

En la cuenca del Esla (provincias de León y Zamora) contrasta la ausencia de evidencias materiales del ejército romano con el desarrollo de algunos episodios bélicos destacados por los autores clásicos. En este artículo analizamos una serie de recintos militares localizados con técnicas de teledetección que pueden representar un punto de encuentro entre ambas fuentes. Se describe la metodología seguida y se presentan las evidencias observadas, adscribiéndolas al período tardorrepublicano/altoimperial. A continuación, se plantean algunas hipótesis sobre su inserción en los distintos contextos históricos posibles, atendiendo especialmente al recinto de Villacete por su posible relación con un evento destacado por los textos grecolatinos: la toma de la ciudad de Lancia. La parte de este trabajo realizada por Andrés Menéndez-Blanco cuenta con el apoyo económico del Ministerio de Universidades a través de la convocatoria de Ayudas para la recualificación del sistema universitario español para 2021-2023 (Programa Margarita Salas) del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia financiado con los fondos de la Unión Europea-NextGenerationEu. La aportación de João Fonte se enmarca dentro del proyecto “Finisterrae: Negotiating and contesting marginal landscapes on the Western fringes of the Roman Empire”, financiado por el programa de investigación e innovación Horizonte 2020 de la Unión Europea dentro del marco de la ayuda Marie Skłodowska-Curie nº 794048.