Talks
Forthcoming talks
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Equipment and Quarrying Techniques Used at the Chalcolithic Mining Settlement at Piatra Tomii, Romania.
Where: The 2nd International Conference of the UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times, Madrid, Spain., UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times When: October 2009
Co-presented with Cristian Popa
The Piatra Tomii archaeological site is located in the south-eastern part of the Apuseni Mts near to Racatau village, Romania. The site is named after the Piatra Tomii hill, which is a large limestone outcrop of late Jurassic origin. The limestone outcrops in and around the site contain nodules and lenses of chert. This material is very well suited to knapping artefacts. This site has a late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age mining settlement of the Cotofeni culture (phase 3). This presentation will examine the types of mining tools found at this site and some descriptions of the probable mining methods used to extract the chert.
LikeUsage of Locally Available vs. Imported Lithic Material at Chalcolithic-Bronze Age Settlements in the Ampoi Valley.
Where: The 2nd International Conference of the UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times, Madrid, Spain., UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times When: October 2009
Co-presented with Horia Ciugudean
The Trascau Mountain range (Eastern Apuseni Mts.) contains numerous outcrops of chert. This material is commonly found in karst towers of late Jurassic to early Cretaceous limestone. These outcrops occur the entire length of the mountain range from Vintu de Jos to Cheili Turzii. Many of these outcrops are of good quality for knapping tools. Most of the Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age settlements in the Ampoi valley (Alba county, Romania) are located on top of or adjacent to chert outcrops. Regardless of the ease of acquisition and abundance of this local material, these sites show a significant quantity of artefacts produced from distant material. This presentation will give an overview of the sources of materials used to make the artefacts, what percentage of each source was used, and what types of tools were typically made from each of the source materials.
Where: 15th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists, Riva del Garda, Italy., European Association of Archaeologists When: September 2009
In addition to reviewing the previous work of Eugen Comsa on the topic of Balkanic flint artefacts from southern Romania, lithic artefacts from several of Comsa’s excavations from near to the Danube (southern Romania) were re-analysed and compared to local sources of flint. The objectives of this study were two-fold. Firstly we consider whether the Balkanic flint artefacts represent a single type of material or in fact a mixture of various subtypes. Secondly we consider to what degree Balkanic flint was used (as opposed to other materials) and whether it was being acquired as raw material (and locally processed) or in the form of ready made tools.
Romanian Lithotheque Project. Knappable Stone Resources in the Mures Valley.
Where: 16th Meeting of the Association of European Geological Societies, Cluj-Napoca, Romania., Association of European Geological Societies When: July 2009
The objectives of the study are to catalogue and characterise sources of knappable stone materials in order to identify the provenance of Stone Age artefacts found in Transylvania (Romania). This presentation will focus specifically on sources in the Mureş Valley region, i.e. the Southern Apuseni Mountains and the Southern Carpathians, respectively.
Where: 37th International Symposium on Archaeometry, Siena, Italy., Siena University. When: 2008
Co-presented with Zsolt Kasztovszky
A large problem in sourcing siliceous artefacts such as flints, jaspers, and chalcedonies, is that macroscopically they may look very similar, even if they come from different sources. From a mineralogical and chemical point of view, they are almost pure SiO2 with a very heterogeneous mixture of impurities. The impurities are often unevenly spread throughout the
material. This causes a broad range of the proportions of the elements found in a particular geological source, which thereby may lead to a large overlap with other sources.
For chemical analysis of siliceous rocks to be useful in provenance studies, several criteria are necessary. The method must analyse the sample in bulk, as opposed to surface spot analysis. It must be non-destructive because most artefacts used in sourcing studies, those most suspected of being of long distance origin, are considered more important and thus cannot be destroyed. As well, the method of analysis must generally be very sensitive, due to the high silica quantity.
The focus of this study was to find whether PGAA could be used to successfully distinguish between samples of siliceous material from known geological sources in Romania. PGAA was chosen because it does bulk analysis of materials and is non-destructive. In this study, three macroscopically identical sources of materials (in this case jaspers) from Transylvania (Romania) were analysed. Distinguishing characteristics were sought in each source that could be used to identify the origins of five artefacts. This presentation will show the results of the analyses and an evaluation of the further analytical possibilities.
Lithic Artefacts at the Limba Site (Romania). Regarding the Use of Local vs. Imported Materials During the Early to Middle Neolithic of the Mures Valley.
Where: International Conference on the Neo-Eneolithic Period in Central and South-East Euopre. Results and Perspectives. Bucharest, Romania. , The Romanian Academy. Institute of Archaeology. When: 2008
Regarding the procurement of lithic materials at the Neolithic site at Limba (Alba County, Romania): Sources of Local and Imported Materials.
Where: International Conference on Geoarchaeology and Archaeomineralogy, Sofia, Bulgaria. When: 2009
Over the past decade, research at the site of the Neolithic settlement at Limba, Alba County, western Romania, has uncovered numerous lithic artefacts. The focus of this study is to compare the material from which the chipped stone artefacts were made to known geological sources of similar lithic material. Within a day's walking distance of the settlement there are numerous sources of lithic material suitable for producing artefacts. Within an area of several days' walk or a day by boat, there are even more sources, some of very good quality material. This study has shown that although there are numerous local and near-local sources of lithic material, a large percentage of the artefacts appear to have been made from non-local materials, including sources as far away as the Prut river (in the Botoşani County area), the area between the Carpathians and the Danube, and from the Western Carpathians (in the area of Hungary and Slovakia). The observations of this study suggest that the Limba settlement was part of an extensive trade network as reflected by the high percentage of non-local materials.
A Statistical Algorithm for Use in Provenancing Silicate Artefacts Based on Chemical Analysis Data. Examples of Application Using XRF and INAA.
Where: Computer Applications in Archaeology conference, Budapest, Hungary. When: 2008
In prehistory, trade routes were used to transport people and goods. Of the commonly found materials at archaeological sites, the most useful to determine these trade routes is siliceous stone. In geologic studies, determination of the major, minor and trace elements in lithic samples is a popular method of sourcing artefacts. If one determines the proportions of the constituent elements in a lithic artefact, the results can be compared to known proportions in suspected quarrying sites to aid in determination of the source of the artefact. The difficulty in analysing chert or quartzite is the extremely low quantities of diagnostic trace elements and the fact that these materials are generally heterogeneous. Different areas of an artefact or geological sample will contain different proportions of different elements. These factors make sourcing studies very difficult and time consuming. The intent of this study was to create a mathematical-statistical algorithm that could automatically process chemical analysis data of geological materials and artefacts and then predict the sources of silicate artefacts. Data from XRF (X-Ray Flourescence) and INAA (Intrumental Neutron Activation) analysis of chert and quartzite was used to successfully test the algorithms using the SPSS software.
Several statistical methods were tried. Some produced better results than others.
- Simple cluster analysis and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) appeared to be unable to differentiate between sources or predict with a reliable amount of accuracy the source of an artefact except when there were only a few sources available.
- It was found that the accuracy and statistical significance increase when the raw data is combined with data derived from factor analysis - generally the first four or five principal components (PCs).
- It was found that Cluster Analysis of the entire dataset based on the first 5 or 6 principal components produced better than random results but still not very well grouped.
- When the cluster group values were added to the database (with the raw data and PCs) and analysed using LDA, that the results were better than using only the raw data.
This paper will present the algorithms used in this study along with observations on their relative strengths and weaknesses.
Urban Development and Preventive Archaeology. An Cataloguing Model for Archaeological Sites.
Where: Computer Applications in Archaeology conference, Budapest, Hungary. When: 2008
Co-presented with Florela Vasilescu, Angelica Balos and Calin Cornea
In the last ten years within Romania, urban and industrial development has acquired a large scope. All recent investment projects are susceptible to affecting archaeological heritage. Romanian legislation assures the protection of known archaeological sites and remains discovered by chance, but to be put into practical use by certain local administrations (in this case, MoCRA Hunedoara County office) it is necessary to be familiar with exactly which heritage could be affected.
For the administration of these zones with archaeological heritage, in order to establish when excavation is necessary and in what conditions, in order to have evidence of the zones with potential and of those already researched, the cataloguing of these sites is important.
For Hunedoara county the cataloguing of the archaeological sites began in 2005 through a project financed by the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs. “The Hunedoara County Archaeological Sites Cataloguing Project” has two components - a database for registering archaeological discoveries and a GIS application which contains geographic information regarding the archaeological sites which can be identified, the zones with archaeological potential or the zones which have already been archaeologically discharged.
The structure of the database for registering archaeological sites is conceived in order to correspond totally to the practical needs in regards to the “management” of archaeological research caused by investments in the case of Hunedoara county, as well as to be integrated into other cataloguing systems at the national level. The level of detail registered for each archaeological site permits the use of these databases also for scientific purposes (as starting points for fuller research carried out later). Similarly, this cataloguing model can be used also to register historic monuments.
Palaeotopography. The Use of GIS Software with Data Derived from Resistivity Surveys and Stratigraphic Profiles to Reconstruct Sites and Past Terrains.
Where: Computer Application in Archaeology conference, Berlin, Germany. When: 2007
Co-presented with Angelica Balos
The aim of this study was to recreate the past terrain and major features of a site using data from stratigraphic profiles and data from earth resistivity surveys. The site investigated in this study is a late Iron Age fortified settlement in south western Transylvania. The settlement is located on a slightly elevated plateau, at the base of the Uroi escarpment close to the Mureş River.
Stratigraphic information (including soil layers and cultural features) throughout the site was gathered through traditional excavations over the last four years. During the 2006 excavation season non-invasive earth resistivity surveys were conducted over larger areas to produce 2D multi-depth inversion profiles as well as single depth plans. Resistivity analyses were calibrated with known depths from excavation stratigraphic profiles. The information from both sources was plotted three dimensionally in ArcMap 9. In ArcMap, data layers were created for different pedological and archaeological strata and features. The data from both sources was used to determine points that would have been on the surface at different points during the past. These points were then used to recreate the past topographies. The archaeological features were created based on the traces shown in the resistivity surveys, parts of features uncovered during excavations, and predictions regarding their original form. It was thereby possible to view the terrain along with human features as they would have appeared in the past.
This type of study has not been done before in Romania. The methodology therefore makes available to researchers and educators here a new tool to help resolve two traditional objectives. It makes it easier for researchers, students and the general public to visualise how a site would have appeared to the people who occupied it. It is also possible for researchers to study the change of topography over time. This second point (especially when combined with other palaeoenvironmental data) is of particular use in landscape archaeology where researchers are interested in the relation between humans and their environment, such as human reactions to environmental changes and how some changes may have been caused by humans.
Our presentation will demonstrate the procedure used to recreate the terrain models and show several illustrations of the reconstructed terrains.
A Simplified Empirical System of Describing, Classifying and Registering Cherts; A Proposal and Preliminary Results from Research in Transylvania.
Where: Scientific Symposium of the Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilisation, Deva, Romania., Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilisation, Deva, Romania. When: 2006
Investigations into Possible Cooking Methods of the Palaeolithic Based on Archaeological Finds in the Romanian Territory.
Where: Iasi University History and Archaeology Conference, Iasi, Romania., History and Archaeology Department, Iasi University, Iasi, Romania. When: 2006
Reconstructing and Analysing Cooking Methods of the Pre-Ceramic Stone Age; An Experiment in Comparative Anthropology and Experimental Archaeology.
Where: 2nd International Conference at Százhalombatta on Experimental Archaeology and Archaeological Parks, Százhalombatta, Hungary., Százhalombatta Archaeological Park, Százhalombatta, Hungary. When: 2006
Co-presented with Simona David
For most of the neolithic, the most commonly used material was ceramic, but during the palaeolithic, ceramic was not used. Therefore people must have used another material in order to cook or at least to heat water. Although leather and wood almost never preserve in the archaeological record they were both very commonly available in prehistory. It is therefore possible that they were used instead of ceramics. As well, during the neolithic, it is possible that ceramic was not used all the time, particularly if groups were nomadic, seasonal, or supplimented their food supply by hunting. As seen in North American groups, leather was often used because it was easier to transport than ceramics (being lighter, less fragile and easily packed).
This presentation describes several cooking methods that were tried in order to reconstruct possible stone age methods. The methods tested were based on methods used by aboriginal peoples in North America which were compared to archaeological materials (or absense of materials) found at palaeolithic and neolithic sites in Europe. The objective was to gain a more insider understanding of the use of these methods and materials.
The main materials used were raw animal skin, tanned animal skin, wood and ceramics. Water in pots of these materials was heated by addition of hot rocks, suspension over fire, and placement among burning wood. The materials were also tested separately for different useful characteristics. As expected, ceramic was the most easily heated. Among the skin pots, the tanned leather survived better and the water heated better with hot rocks than suspention over fire.
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