Elisabetta Boaretto

Weizmann Institute of Science | weizmann · Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science

Analyzing human remains often confronts challenges due to poor preservation. Here we resolve a challenge in the characterization of a unique human dental element from a Byzantine ascetic at Khirbat el-Masani’, near Jerusalem. Unfortunately, traditional methods like osteological analysis and radiocarbon dating were unfeasible for sex determination a...

Anthropogenic calcite is a form of calcium carbonate produced through pyrotechnological activities, and it is the main component of materials such as lime binders and wood ash. This type of calcite is characterized by a significantly lower degree of crystallinity compared with its geogenic counterparts, as a result of different formation processes....

We report on the 3D ultrastructure of the mineralized petrous bone of mature pig using focused ion beam - scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM). We divide the petrous bone into two zones based on the degree of mineralization; one zone close to the otic chamber has higher mineral density than the second zone further away from the otic chamber. The...

The Minoan eruption of Santorini, Greece, is an important and often-debated chronological marker in contexts of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Among various age estimates of this event, one based on wiggle-matching of radiocarbon (14C) dates from an olive branch found in Santorini by Friedrich et al. (2006) has been widely discussed. Calibrated...

Following renewed excavations at Boker Tachtit (2013–2015), a revised study of the lithic assemblage techno-typological characteristics was conducted placing it within a regional context. The growing number of archaeological sites in the Levantine desert regions assigned to the Initial Upper Paleolithic calls for an updated perspective regarding te...

Recent excavations of Late Antiquity settlements in the Negev Highlands of southern Israel uncovered a society that established commercial-scale viticulture in an arid environment [D. Fuks et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 19780-19791 (2020)]. We applied target-enriched genome-wide sequencing and radiocarbon dating to examine grapevine pip...

The Kos Plateau Tuff (KPT), was an enormous caldera forming eruption originating from a vent within the Kos/Nisyros/Yali volcanic complex, occurring at 161 ka. It is the largest recognised Late Quaternary eruption in the Eastern Mediterranean. With its distinctive, highly silicic chemical composition, the resulting ash deposits have been used both...

The Levantine Early Upper Paleolithic (ca. 45e30 ka) has been a focus of research because of its unique position as a conduit of human, flora, and fauna species between Africa and Eurasia. Studies have mainly focused on the Early Ahmarian and Levantine Aurignacian, two entities, the former endemic and the latter foreign, which are considered to hav...

The Epipalaeolithic Natufian Culture (latest Pleistocene Levant, ca. 15,000–11,500 cal bp) represents relatively sedentary and complex foraging societies, but the plant communities near their most intensively occupied hamlets (in the Mediterranean region of the southern Levant) are not well known. Here we present the charcoal and seed assemblages,...

The characterization of ancient DNA in fossil bones is providing invaluable information on the genetics of past human and other animal populations. These studies have been aided enormously by the discovery that ancient DNA is relatively well preserved in the petrous bone compared to most other bones. The reasons for this better preservation are how...

Charred olive pits are frequently preserved in archaeological sites in Israel, from ca. 5000 BCE. As olive fruits grow during one season, the carbon comprising their pits reflects their year of growth, making charred olive pits found in situ ideal for radiocarbon dating of archaeological contexts. An additional aspect, up until now not explored, is...

Vast burial fields, some with hundreds of burials, categorize the southern Levant’s Intermediate Bronze Age period (IBA). This phenomenon contrasts with a limited number of burials found from the preceding Early Bronze III period. This paper presents the first radiocarbon dating research of sampled bones from shaft tombs from five IBA burial sites...

In October-November 2015 and 2016, excavations were conducted at the Boqer site in 'En 'Avdat Nature Reserve in the Negev (License Nos. G-26/2015, G-87/2016; map ref. 17844-50/52790-2). The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Max Planck-Weizmann Joint Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology and the Israel Antiquities Authority, was...

A recently excavated early Pottery Neolithic (PN) site, Tel Izhaki (Jezreel Valley, Israel) revealed clear evidence for the collecting and recycling of Pre-Pottery Neolithic B blades. This technological behavior, common during the period, occurred along with some on-site production of bidirectional blades, the latter a technological feature charact...

The characterization of ancient DNA in fossil bones is providing invaluable information on the genetics of past human and other animal populations. These studies have been aided enormously by the discovery that ancient DNA is relatively well preserved in the petrous bone compared to most other bones. The reasons for this better preservation are how...

Marine Isotopic Stage 5 is associated with wetter climatic conditions in the Saharo-Arabian deserts. This stage also corresponds to the establishment of Middle Paleolithic hominins and their associated material culture in two geographical provinces in southwest Asia—the Eastern Mediterranean woodland and the Arabian Peninsula desert. The lithic ind...

Teeth are usually targeted for dating archaeological sites because they are the least prone to dissolution, in comparison with bones. However, despite this apparent resistance, teeth do undergo diagenesis, which needs to be accounted for in order to obtain accurate ages. In particular, the uptake of trace elements such as uranium in dental tissues...

Unravelling the failure history of submarine slides and delineating its environmental controls are crucial for practical hazard assessments, but are commonly challenging and costly. Here we address this challenge in investigating the Goliath slide complex, one of the largest documented slide scars on the ~200 km long continental slope offshore Isra...

Olive (Olea europaea) trees in the arid Negev Desert of southern Israel are important relicts on the ancient agricultural landscape. Among them are a cluster of several trees located in Wadi Zetan, at the heart of the Shivta horticulture terroir, with its abundant agricultural runoff remains. Two isolated olive bearing trees stand in a sheltered be...

The remains of a >50-years-old male, thus far representing the only complete skeleton dated to the Early Chalcolithic (Wadi Rabah) period in Israel, were recovered in a cave in the Judaean desert (Nahal Mishmar, F1-003). The old male suffered abscesses in the maxilla following tooth caries, and a well-healed trauma in the left tibial midshaft. Skul...

Salvage excavations were conducted in the summer of 2017 on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, opposite Nissim Aloni Street no. 2, less than 35 m southeast of the Late Chalcolithic site at Namir Road, Tel Aviv. The latter site was extensively excavated in 2005 and 2010. The present excavation clearly shows that the Nissim Aloni site is...

Various archaeological and historical evidence shows that the marginal area of the Negev desert of southern Israel enjoyed great agricultural prosperity in the Byzantine period (4th–7th centuries CE). Among the different types of agricultural installations are pigeon towers, which were built near the fields to produce fertilizer to enrich the nutri...

Tel Hazor is one of only a few sites in Israel where remains of the Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA) in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC were found on top of Early Bronze III (EB III) city remains. A probe excavation was held at Hazor in 2017 to explore the chronological relation between the EB III and the IBA occupation. The radiocarbon ( ¹⁴...

Black Wheel Made Ware (BWMW) is a distinguished pottery-type of the Intermediate Bronze Age (EB IV) in the Levant, a period dated to the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE. Considerable research was done both on the origin of BWMW and on how these vessels reflect inter-regional relations. This paper presents the first radiocarbon-based absolute...

Raqefet Cave is located in southeast Mount Carmel, Israel. It contains a long archaeological sequence with two major occupations: in the early Upper Paleolithic (Levantine Aurignacian culture, ca. 36,000–35,000 cal. BP) and the Late Epipaleolithic (Natufian culture, ca. 14,000–12,000 cal. BP). Abundant charred remains were found in the cave's depos...

Raqefet cave is part of a wider research project based on the archaeobotanical analysis, radiocarbon dating and stable carbon isotope analysis of plant samples from four Epipaleolithic sites on Mount Carmel. The project aims to identify the plants used by the foragers and characterize the changes in the environment and climate in the area through t...

Significance The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) marks a distinct cultural change possibly related to Homo sapiens dispersals into Eurasia. New radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dates from the recent excavations at Boker Tachtit, Negev, Israel, show that the IUP starts as early as around 50,000 y ago, and the later IUP phase dates t...

Ring porosity, i.e. the distribution of vessel size within the ring of Angiosperms, is generally considered a taxon-specific trait. Ring porosity reflects strategies for tree water transport. However, we don’t know if variable conditions affect these patterns. Is ring porosity a stable trait in Mediterranean oaks, or does climate variability alter...

The following paper presents the results of radiocarbon (14 C) dating of Middle Bronze Age (MB) contexts in Jerusalem. The dates, sampled with microarchaeology methods from three different locations along the eastern slopes of the city's ancient core, reveal that Jerusalem was initially settled in the early phases of the period, with public archite...

Forests worldwide are facing increasingly frequent climate extremes due to global warming. The negative effects of climate change on tropical forests have been extensively reported by both permanent plots and tree-ring studies that targeted forest's responses to climate. While they focus mostly on community and population levels, the effects of lan...

Routine quarrying activity at the Nesher-Ramla Quarry, in the Judean Lowlands, Israel, has recently exposed a new Early Holocene archaeological site located in a small natural sinkhole, one of many dolines scattered in the area, dated to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (EPPNB). It is the first site of this period to be uncovered in the narrow str...

The volcanic eruption of Santorini in the Bronze Age left detectable debris across the Mediterranean, serving as an anchor in time for the region, synchronizing chronologies of different sites. However, dating the eruption has been elusive for decades, as radiocarbon indicates a date about a century earlier than archaeological chronologies. The ide...

The Near East and the Caucasus are commonly regarded as the original domestication centres of Vitis vinifera (grapevine), and the region continues to be home to a high diversity of wild and cultivated grapevines, particularly within Georgia. The earliest chemical evidence for wine making was recorded in Georgian Neolithic sites (6000–5800 bc) and g...

Recent radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) research demonstrates that the urban culture of Early-Bronze III in the southern Levant ends around 2500 BC, and not around 2300 BC as was widely assumed. This should extend the Intermediate Bronze Age by 200 years. Charred olive pits from Intermediate Bronze Age contexts in the site of Khirbat el-‘Alya Northeast in the J...

The excavation of Manot Cave (Israel) reveals intensive occupation during the Early Upper Paleolithic and provides the first continuous set of anthracological data available for the Ahmarian, Levantine Auri-gnacian and post-Levantine Aurignacian periods. The paper aims to study the vegetal landscape around Manot Cave in the context of climate chang...

Manot Cave contains important human fossils and archaeological assemblages related to the origin and dispersal of anatomically modern humans and the Upper Paleolithic period. This record is divided between an elevated in situ occupation area and a connecting talus. We, thus, investigated the interplay between the accumulation of the sediments and t...

The Early Upper Palaeolithic in the south Judean Desert, Israel: preliminary excavation results from Nahal Rahaf 2 rockshelter - Omry Barzilai, Emil Aladjem, Maayan Shemer, Rami Zituni, Noam Greenbaum, Elisabetta Boaretto, Nimrod Marom

The most recent workshop on mortar dating (25–27 Oct. 2018, Bordeaux, Montaigne University, France), which closely followed the publication of an extensive round robin-exercise involving several laboratories, was an opportunity to review the history and challenges of mortar dating methods and procedures currently in use. This review stems from the...

Radiocarbon dating is rarely applied in Classical and Post-Classical periods in the Eastern Mediterranean, as it is not considered precise enough to solve specific chronological questions, often causing the attribution of historic monuments to be based on circumstantial evidence. This research, applied in Jerusalem, presents a novel approach to sol...

Pottery kilns are usually recognizable in the archaeological record based on their prominent and characteristic architectural features, evidence of exposure to high temperatures and associated waste products. Here we describe how we identified a kiln that has no readily recognizable architectural features, but does have an upper chamber full of bro...

Far’ah II is an open-air site in the north western Negev desert (Israel). Previous excavations in the 1970’s revealed a rich, in situ Middle Paleolithic (MP) assemblage composed of flint and limestone artifacts, animal bones and charcoal. Renewed excavation at the site were undertaken in 2017, to re-date it and provide a more accurate constrain to...

Preface from the Guest Editors - Volume 62 Issue 3 - Michael Toffolo, Elisabetta Boaretto, Rémy Chapoulie, Pierre Guibert

Radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) dating of anthropogenic carbonates (CaCO 3 ) such as ash, lime plaster and lime mortar, has proven a difficult task due to the occurrence of a number of contaminants embedded within the CaCO 3 pyrogenic binder. These include ¹⁴ C-free geologic components and/or secondary phases bearing an unknown amount of ¹⁴ C, and thus the alt...

Tree-ring chronologies are an excellent climate archive for their spatial and temporal resolution. While networks of chronologies have been built outside the tropics helping to understand past regional climate trends, tropical regions still lag behind in terms of spatial coverage. Dendrochronological studies, however, may succeed in seasonally dry...