Museum of London Archaeology

The harbour porpoise is the most common cetacean species in Northern and North-Western European waters. Harbour porpoise exploitation is often depicted in Mesolithic Scandinavian rock engravings and frequently mentioned in Medieval documentary sources. Based on historical evidence it appears that the social elite in the High and Late Medieval periods attempted to monopolize the consumption of harbour porpoise meat. It has been argued that the symbolic significance of the harbour porpoise surpassed its utilitarian value for these periods. Here, we combine these documentary sources with zooarchaeological data to examine the exploitation of harbour porpoises in the North Atlantic region from the Mesolithic to the post-Medieval period. The zooarchaeological data suggest that harbour porpoises were frequently exploited during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, especially in the Baltic Sea area. Harbour porpoise exploitation declined in subsequent periods before increasing again in the Medieval period. A large number of harbour porpoise remains have been recovered from the High Medieval period specifically. In England, most of these sites are considered high-status, suggesting that the social elite indeed did monopolize their consumption. For the other Northern and North-Western European regions there are several high-status sites with harbour porpoise remains, suggesting that the symbolic significance of the harbour porpoise was apparent throughout Northern and North-Western Europe.

This chapter offers an in-depth analysis of a formal welcome speech at a mid-nineteenth century congress of the British Archaeological Association. By examining the contexts of speech, speaker, and audience, as well as the institutional history of the congress itself, it provides insights into the world of British archaeology at that time. The address, delivered by surgeon and antiquarian Thomas Pettigrew, can be interpreted as an exercise in individual, institutional, and disciplinary self-fashioning. This provides context for the claims of Baconian scientific rigor, and the arguments for greater investment in British archaeology by museums and learned societies. Behind the rhetoric, the archaeological community was divided and weakened by institutional schisms, in which both Pettigrew and the British Archaeological Association found themselves on the smaller and weaker of the two sides. The speech provides a snapshot of a moment in the history of British archaeology and the ambitions, achievements, and struggles contained within it.

De Twee Rozen glasshouse was one of the best-known glasshouses in seventeenth-century Amsterdam and an important producer of glass in the Venetian style. It occupied two sites: initially at Keizersgracht, from 1621, it then moved in 1657 to Rozengracht, further from the center of the city. Production debris recovered from a deposit close to the Keizersgracht site were originally attributed to an earlier glasshouse, but a reinterpretation in light of more recent excavations firmly attributes these glasses to the first location of De Twee Rozen. We present 50 new SEM-EDS analyses of vessel glass, moils, trim-offs, unfinished objects, and production waste from the later site at Rozengracht and compare these with previously published analyses from both sites. Several changes in glass technology appear to have been introduced following the change of location. First, a cristallo-type technology, involving the purification of ashes to produce a glass with lower Fe2O3 appears to have been used exclusively at Rozengracht. Thus, the introduction of glass production in the Venetian style was not accompanied by the signature Venetian glassmaking technology, which seems to have followed later. Second, the relatively new method of opacification using antimony was introduced, along with other changes, such as the introduction of lead into the cobalt-blue glass used in polychrome decorative canes. The origins of these new technologies are discussed in particular in view of the presence of the chemist Johann Rudolf Glauber at De Twee Rozen and its direction by a Venetian master, Nicalao Stua, from 1667.

Sixty-six glass vessels from excavations in Beirut and dated first century B.C.E. to the first century C.E. have been analysed by electron microprobe. The majority are relatively high in Al 2 O 3 , CaO and P 2 O 5 , are weakly coloured, manganese-colourless, or yellow–brown-amber and on compositional grounds the glass material is considered to have originated in the Levant. Manganese oxide was added as a decolouriser and MnO contents are continuous between 0.02 and 2.0%. Limpid, weakly-coloured glass occurs over the whole MnO range, while most colourless glass has MnO above 0.7%, and all amber and olive glasses have MnO below 0.3%. There is a strong correlation between sulphur and soda concentrations in all the Levantine glass, but total sulphur is lowest in amber and olive, reflecting the reducing conditions required to form the ferri-sulphide chromophore and the lower solubility of the S ²⁻ ion as opposed to SO 4 ²⁻ . Iron is also low in the amber glass relative to other colours, as some Fe was added with the manganese that they contain. Hence, amber glasses were produced at the primary stage from mixtures of natron and sand with no other additives apart from any organic reducing agents. In the second half of the first century C.E. slumped bowls in antimony-decolourised Egyptian glass become apparent, along with colourless cast vessels with mixed antimony-manganese compositions. Antimony is known to have been used as a decolouriser in earlier Hellenistic glass, but it does not appear in the present assemblage until this later introduction of Egyptian glass. The introduction of glass-blowing technology does not seem to have coincided with any significant change in composition. Graphical abstract

Bear baiting was a popular form of entertainment in Shakespearean England that was staged across the country but formalised in the Early Modern entertainment hub on Bankside, London. Here, the authors bring together zooarchaeological, stable isotope and archival evidence in the examination of faunal assemblages from nine archaeological sites on Bankside to elucidate characteristics indicative of bear baiting. In doing so, they present criteria for identifying bear-baiting assemblages in the archaeological record of England and beyond, even in the absence of associated documentary evidence.

The Yamnaya archaeological complex appeared around 3300 bc across the steppes north of the Black and Caspian Seas, and by 3000 bc it reached its maximal extent, ranging from Hungary in the west to Kazakhstan in the east. To localize Yamnaya origins among the preceding Eneolithic people, we assembled ancient DNA from 435 individuals, demonstrating three genetic clines. A Caucasus–lower Volga (CLV) cline suffused with Caucasus hunter-gatherer¹ ancestry extended between a Caucasus Neolithic southern end and a northern end at Berezhnovka along the lower Volga river. Bidirectional gene flow created intermediate populations, such as the north Caucasus Maikop people, and those at Remontnoye on the steppe. The Volga cline was formed as CLV people mixed with upriver populations of Eastern hunter-gatherer² ancestry, creating hypervariable groups, including one at Khvalynsk. The Dnipro cline was formed when CLV people moved west, mixing with people with Ukraine Neolithic hunter-gatherer ancestry³ along the Dnipro and Don rivers to establish Serednii Stih groups, from whom Yamnaya ancestors formed around 4000 bc and grew rapidly after 3750–3350 bc. The CLV people contributed around four-fifths of the ancestry of the Yamnaya and, entering Anatolia, probably from the east, at least one-tenth of the ancestry of Bronze Age central Anatolians, who spoke Hittite4,5. We therefore propose that the final unity of the speakers of ‘proto-Indo-Anatolian’, the language ancestral to both Anatolian and Indo-European people, occurred in CLV people some time between 4400 bc and 4000 bc.

While increased focus in recent decades has been paid to conceptions of time in archaeological interpretation, comparably less attention has been afforded to the way in which we ourselves conceive of time in the construction of chronologies to periodize the past. In this paper, I focus on the tripartite chronology utilized by scholars of the Precolumbian Maya as a case study to explore the potential of a critical approach to archaeological chronologies and periodizations. By examining the chronology's origins and the intellectual histories which underpin it, I demonstrate that the issues at stake are more than questions of temporal accuracy but, rather, matters of reflexivity. Through a process of ‘sublimation’, problematic assumptions and mentalities upon which periodizations were originally constructed are obscured in contemporary usage, leading to the perpetuation of outdated tropes and a conceptual path dependency in narratives of the past. Conversely, appreciating the arbitrary nature of chronological demarcations and treating such frameworks as negotiable and open to revision is a powerful tool in opening up new interpretive possibilities to the narration of the past.

Greek and Hellenistic painted vases have attracted scholars of classical archaeology for centuries, either because of the artistic value of the painted decorations or because of the depicted scenes of ancient everyday life. Due to the application of thin slips on the surface, different methods are used for the chemical characterisation of the slips and the body of the same vase. The slips are commonly analysed by X-ray microanalysis, offering point-by-point analysis of mostly major elements, while different tools, such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF), inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), are used for bulk body analysis. This can cause difficulties in comparing the bulk composition and thus in determining the similarities and differences in the preparation process of the clay paste for the slips and bodies of an object. Given the artistic value of these objects, museum curators tend to be reluctant to provide samples for invasive characterisation. Micro-destructive laser ablation methods offer a robust solution to addressing both the relationships between ceramic body and surface treatment chemistry and destructive sampling. To provide a proof-of concept, we analysed slips and bodies of a small sample of Hellenistic fine wares from the Greek colony of Issa in modern Croatia with Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and Laser ablation-ICP-MS. Results show remarkable diversity in the use of clay types and processing techniques.

This paper describes analyses of avifauna from Levantine Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites at contrasting scales. We present avian osteological data at Shubayqa, in northeast Jordan, illustrating human-bird-environment interactions over 4000 years offering interpretation of environmental change on avifaunal communities and reorientation in the nature of multi-species relationships at a wetland environment. Comparisons to published avifaunal assemblages investigates bird-human relationships across a broader temporal and geographical span. During the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, some of our species gradually transitioned to agriculture. People hunted birds for subsistence but extensive evidence for the symbolic importance of birds suggests complex relationships between species. Avifaunal evidence, therefore, presents insights into two commonly suggested primary causes for the shift from hunter-foragers to agriculturalists – resource pressure and symbolic expression. In this paper, we investigate and try to clarify the relationship between humans and birds at this transitional period in human history, furthering discussions of the shift towards agriculture. We argue humans gradually modified the landscape but this was not a reactionary response to resource stress. Nevertheless, this resulted in the productivity of the landscape increasing and allowed further intensification. Feathers and talons of birds were used for millennia preceding the shift to agriculture and the increase in bird hunting towards the end of the Pleistocene cannot be explained by the increased role of birds in the symbolic realm. The evidence from the avifauna adds weight to the idea of ecological niche construction activities, as people invested in specific locations, increasing productivity of habitats, thus encouraging further investment within some environments.

This introduction to the volume explores the historical, political and personal complexities of enemy encounters. Starting with examples of friendly fraternisation over time, the editors consider the causes of feelings of commonality with the enemy and the instability of divisions between ally and enemy in modern warfare, questioning what effect this has on the experience of war. Drawing on literature on restraint and reciprocity in conflict, the chapter identifies a long history of intimacy and co-operation between warring sides that has often been no barrier to continuing violence, even enabling the continuation of war. It also highlights the exclusionary logics at work in enemy encounters, emphasising the global inequalities of grievability and precarity that structure them, and how nationhood and race inform differential valuations of enemy lives, often leading to extreme violence.

The irregular fighters or guerrilleros who sprung up across Spain in its war of independence against Napoleon in the early nineteenth century made a strong impression on international audiences. Military theorists like Clausewitz discussed the implications of irregular tactics for the wars of the future, liberal propaganda lauded the protagonists of a ‘people’s war’, and the concept of the ‘guerrilla’ as a patriotic, politically motivated freedom fighter was born. Yet as this positive concept was being constructed, a flurry of literary narratives arrived to contradict it. Novelists conjured up fictional encounter stories in which guerrillas were at best transgressive and at worst demonic, portraying irregulars as the real enemy to hate and fear, regardless of whether they had been military allies in practice. Guerrilla tactics were denounced as unmistakably ‘other’, as immoral and too costly to the suffering civilian population. This chapter examines several early-nineteenth-century stories of violent guerrilla encounters set in the Peninsular War to demonstrate how this ‘othering’ was achieved in literature, revealing the common tropes and underlying contradictions within these narratives. It demonstrates how the irregular fighter has been marginalised over time through such narratives of difference, particularly those which pose guerrillas as barbaric and criminal versus the supposedly civilised and disciplined armed forces.

The volume’s editors, an Arts in Health practitioner, and four British veterans reflect on contemporary experiences of the enemy, including military enemies, enemies within the self and within a military system in which violence to women personnel persists, and feelings of enmity and alienation in divisions between veterans and civilians. They detail the process of finding forms to relate veterans’ complex experiences in the acclaimed comic Coming Home (2022) with Re-Live, a Life Story arts charity. Discussions explore key themes of the volume, including the significance of international law, sexual violence, moral injury and shame, dehumanisation, rehumanisation, care, and reconciliation in encountering ‘the’ enemy.

The Roman period saw the empire expand across Europe and the Mediterranean, including much of what is today Great Britain. While there is written evidence of high mobility into and out of Britain for administrators, traders, and the military, the impact of imperialism on local, rural population structure, kinship, and mobility is invisible in the textual record. The extent of genetic change that occurred in Britain during the Roman military occupation remains underexplored. Here, using genome-wide data from 52 ancient individuals from eight sites in Cambridgeshire covering the period of Roman occupation, we show low levels of genetic ancestry differentiation between Romano-British sites and indications of larger populations than in the Bronze Age and Neolithic. We find no evidence of long-distance migration from elsewhere in the Empire, though we do find one case of possible temporary mobility within a family unit during the Late Romano-British period. We also show that the present-day patterns of genetic ancestry composition in Britain emerged after the Roman period.

This article presents an assessment of age identities through the funerary practices of the Lower Egyptian Culture (ca. 3500 BCE), with particular attention to childhood. The case study provides an opportunity to discuss how archaeologists form interpretations on age identities through reviews of mortuary data. I claim that we should evaluate the relevance of each and every burial dimension in order to create an informed opinion, rather than provide broad conclusions based on the overall similarities or differences between age groups. Specifically, the location of the tombs has been found particularly relevant for exploring age identities. I propose that these communities recognised at least three different age identities, differentiating foetuses and infants under four months, older subadults, and adults. The role of the arrangement of the grave, corpse, and material culture in negotiating age identities, personhood and grief by mourners is also discussed.

Qaryatum dhāt Kāhilim (‘the City of [the god] Kahl’) is the Ancient South Arabian name of the modern site of Qaryat al‐Fāw. This compound refers to the tutelary deity of the city, in this case, a god called Kahl. However, the identity of this Kahl is obscure. Who is this god that makes his appearance in history towards the end of the second half of the first millennium bc? Despite his name being recorded in various texts and inscriptions on numerous objects that confirm his role as the city's patron god, scant information exists regarding his attributes or sphere of influence. Nonetheless, clues on some of his characteristics can be gleaned from coins bearing his likeness. This serves as a springboard for exploring potential connections with iconographies seen in petroglyphs, statues and paintings from the region, suggesting that Kahl may fit within the archetype of the smiting or menacing god, a prevalent motif in the broader Eastern Mediterranean region.