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Circumalpine lakeside settlements have been declared Unesco world heritage in 2011. Their importance is mainly due to waterlogged preservation of organic material and hence the outstanding potential of these sites for performing detailed archaeological studies of prehistoric societies. However, the details of the taphonomic processes (depositional environment, development of anoxia, lateral or vertical displacement of objects, etc.) have rarely been studied. Consequently, interpretations based on find distributions or comparisons of find densities remain difficult. Zurich-Parkhaus Opéra is a large-scale excavation of waterlogged Neolithic settlement deposits. Eight settlement phases of the late fourth and early third millennium BC were documented and dated using dendrochronology as well as six settlement layers, two of which showed excellent organic preservation. Based on a large number of sediment samples we conducted a multidisciplinary study in taphonomic processes influencing these layers. Our results indicate that a multi-indicator approach can provide detailed information on formation processes of waterlogged cultural layers. We found that 1) aquatic invertebrate remains and geotechnical calculations gave evidence for continuous shallow water conditions and eutrophic/anoxic deposition environment during occupation of the site. 2) Position and distribution of finds and loam patches indicate that disposal of household waste was focused on middens, which were still intact. 3) High variability in sediment contents (both spatially and in terms of state of preservation) is due to different factors such as oxygen depletion, deposition rate, erosion and enrichment of different materials, while all factors can affect each other resulting in highly complex formation processes.

Abstract Recent climate changes have led to an increase in the exposure of archaeological remains in frozen environments due to the melting of glaciers and ice patches, and the thawing of permafrost. In some cases, the discovery of glacial archaeological findings has occurred due to chance. In order to avoid the risk of losing exceptional, often organic, cultural remains due to decomposition, systematic and predictive methods should be employed to locate areas of high glacial archaeological potential. Here, we merged archaeological and glaciological methods to create a new type of archaeological prediction model in the field of glacial archaeology. Locational analysis and glaciological modelling were used to highlight current and future areas of archaeological potential in the Pennine Alps, located between Switzerland and Italy. Future glacier area was calculated in 10 year increments until 2100. By 2090, 93% of glacier area is expected to have disappeared. The results from the final model, GlaciArch, provide new insights into future glacial archaeological prospection in the Pennine Alps by narrowing down a study region of 4500 km2 into several manageable square kilometre sites.

Although understanding the emergence of agriculture in West Africa has recently benefited from major advances, the reasons for its fast diffusion south of the Sahara remain to be explained. We propose here a reconstruction of African agriculture expansion built from a spatialization of available archaeological data and associated radiocarbon dates. With this approach, we can show that the initial spread of food production occurred with some specific rhythms. From this structure, we discuss the potential underlying processes. Our work suggests that the spread of agriculture in West Africa cannot be explained by a simple response to an abrupt environmental change at the beginning of the Late Holocene, but rather by a combined climate-culture mechanism. In addition, cord-wrapped roulette-impressed pottery appears to be a good indicator of the expansion of agro-pastoralist populations in Sub-Saharan regions. Our results are also consistent with the assumption of a monophyletic origin of domestic pearl millet in south-western Sahara and strengthen the idea that the first cultivators were Saharan pastoralists.

Evidence for bitumen use in Middle Palaeolithic sites is an exception in Pleistocene archaeology. This paper presents the discovery of three tar-bearing Levallois artefacts found in the Mousterian sequence in Hummal (Central Syria). The organic residues were submitted to geochemical study. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons and isotopic data show the presence of bitumen. The most likely location of natural asphalt provisioning is the Shaaf outcrop in the Bichri desert. The bitumen-bearing stone tools add further important data to the growing knowledge about bitumen processing in the Middle Palaeolithic spring sites of El Kowm. Identification of the provisioning place for natural asphalt enables a more precise assumption about the site's catchment area. From a technological point of view, the tar-bearing specimens provide information on the range of tool forms selected for hafting. Ballistic features arguably indicate that the pointed Levallois blanks seem to be spear points that were fitted to a wooden handle. In at least one case, this technical procedure was seemingly executed during a brief episode of occupation and replacement of worn out implements. This small, bracketed window of detailed insight into Mousterian technology is linked with the more general relationship between Levallois technology and stone tool hafting. International audience

Abstract During the restoration of the Radium cinema located in the old Town of Zurich, a stratigraphic sequence of medieval fireplaces came to light. Based on ceramic finds, a preliminary age of about 1000 AD was assigned. In this paper we show the results from archaeomagnetic and radiocarbon dating, which combined with the stratigraphic information yield a better constrain of the period of use of these fireplaces. Whilst the radiocarbon technique continues to be the most widespread methodology for dating young archeological artifacts, archaeomagnetic dating is becoming increasingly more established in Europe thanks to the increased number of available measurements. A Bayesian model on the period of use of these fireplaces was produced with OxCal, by a combination of magnetic and radiocarbon ages, together with the stratigraphic information. The results show that the fireplaces were probably used during 1 to 2 generations (e.g. 20–40 years each), and are in good agreement with the archaeological context of this site. To make use of the magnetic measurements for future reconstructions of the field, we carried out an additional age model using only the radiocarbon and the stratigraphic information. Although some of the structures show large directional scatter due to poor baking in antiquity, the results confirm the trend of the geomagnetic field around 1000 AD.