Eva Panagiotakopulu

• University of Edinburgh

A palaeoecological multidisciplinary study from a well-preserved bark dominated structure and other organic sediments are presented. The study provides new data about Mesolithic coastal environments and includes a reconstruction of concurrent vegetation units, concluding that thermophilous woodland was established at the outer SW-Norwegian coast as...

Summary of 2014-2017 excavations at Eagle Cave, Texas, by the Ancient Southwest Texas Project.

Findings of archaeological textiles and fibres in Northern Iberia are extremely rare. The occurrence of a set of textile fragments, dated between the 14th and 16th centuries CE at the Pambre castle (Palas de Rei, Lugo, Spain) is exceptional. The original stone roof of the southeastern tower was intact. The dark, cold and moist conditions inside the...

A CULTURAL HISTORY OF INSECTS IN ANTIQUITY A Cultural History of Insects covers the period from 1000 BCE to 500 CE. As different cultures expanded so did their interactions with insects, largely seen as vectors of disease and as agricultural and bodily pests. However, as knowledge of insects grew, insect products were developed, notably honey or be...

Insect faunas from a Spanish and a Dutch shipwreck, Angra D and Angra C, recovered from a bay on Terceira island, Angra do Heroísmo, in the Azores, and dated to c. 1650 CE, provide information about the onboard ecology of seventeenth century shipping vessels and the role of these ships and of contemporary maritime routes in biological invasions. In...

Of the 24 Greenland interstadials in the Last Glacial-interglacial cycle (LGIC) only five are conventionally recognised in Britain. This paper aims to improve understanding of the LGIC in Britain from a site at Arclid, Cheshire. Sediments were characterised and luminescence used to establish a chronology. This found that the Chelford Sand Formation...

Insect faunas from a Spanish and a Dutch shipwreck, Angra D and Angra C, recovered from a bay on Terceira island, Angra do Heroísmo, in the Azores, and dated to c. 1650 CE, provide information about the onboard ecology of seventeenth century shipping vessels and the role of these ships and of contemporary maritime routes in biological invasions. In...

The wooden assemblage recovered from Hoyo de los Herreros cave (Reocín, Cantabria, Spain) in northern Iberia has provided an exceptional opportunity to enlarge our knowledge about perishable material culture from a unique medieval context. This case study enhances the information related to ephemeral material culture associated with the occupation...

Part of the discussion about refugia revolves around theories of survival in the vicinity of hot springs in Iceland, on nunataks or debris-covered glacier surfaces. In his seminal works on North Atlantic faunas, C.H. Lindroth synthetically discussed the distribution of North Atlantic terrestrial, freshwater and littoral marine animals and also cons...

Fossil insect assemblages from post-medieval Skálholt, the oldest episcopal see in Iceland, provide new information about indoor environments and the specific use of a structure which according to historical information was listed as a larder attached to the episcopal school. The assemblages recovered also provide information on the background faun...

The optimal preservation of many Egyptian archaeological sites provides unique opportunities in the research into the evolution of synanthropic species, wild animals or plants, which benefit from close association with man-made human habitats. In this study we extracted and analysed ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from three synanthropic insect s...

A novel pathway for understanding exchange is via what might be termed historical autecology, in particular, trying to assess introductions and invasive insect species in the environments under investigation. Invertebrates can provide very detailed information on this front, as they inevitably accompany any trading or raiding activities, in ships,...

While there is extensive evidence for the Late Devensian, less is known about Early and Middle Devensian (approx. 110-30 ka) climates and environments in the UK. The Greenland ice-core record suggests the UK should have endured multiple changes, but the terrestrial palaeo-record lacks sufficient detail for confirmation from sites in the British Isl...

Palaeoecological investigations of a rapidly eroding coastal midden and an adjacent peat bog on the island of Kangeq in southwest Greenland have provided new information on environmental change and human impact associated with Thule Inuit occupation. Palynological and palaeoentomological datasets have been produced through the 14th to the 17th cent...

Although there are several well preserved Viking boat burials from Norway, until recently palaeoecological research on their context has often been limited. Research on fossil insect remains in particular can provide valuable forensic information even in the absence of an actual body. Here we present archaeoentomological information from a boat bur...

A possible scenario. (DOCX)

Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire is often considered a well-preserved ancient landscape, subsequently having survived by way of centuries of management as a hunting preserve. Archaeological evidence suggests otherwise, with an enclosed landscape beginning in the pre-Roman Iron Age and continuing through the Roman period. Due to the nature of the...

The Neolithic and the spread of agriculture saw several introductions of insect species associated with the environments and activities of the first farmers. Fossil insect research from the Neolithic lake settlement of Dispilio in Macedonia, northern Greece, provides evidence for the early European introduction of a flightless weevil, the granary w...

The impact of insect species directly associated with man-made habitats and human dispersal has been, and remains globally significant. Their early expansion from their original niches into Europe is intrinsically related to discussions of climate change, origins of domesticated plants and animals, the spread of agriculture and infectious diseases....

The limits of the glacier that occupied the southwest part of the southern Vale of York at the Last Glacial Maximum are defined in relation to recent temporary exposures at Lindholme and previous regional mapping by Geoff Gaunt. Erratic content of associated diamicts indicates sources in the Yorkshire Dales, over Stainmore and along the Permo-...

During the Last Glacial Maximum, the Vale of York and North Sea lobes of the British and Irish Ice Sheet extended to within 10km of each other, impounding a series of pro-glacial lakes. Such an interplay of ice lobes provides a useful analogue for elsewhere in the North Sea basin. This paper focusses on reconstructing the Vale of York and North Sea...

The use of a wide range of narcotic drugs in antiquity has been widely documented, although archaeologists have sometimes been too credulous of apparently scientific data, and have failed to appreciate the post-excavation histories of artefacts, including mummies. This paper examines the discovery of tobacco in the mummy of Rameses II, provides an...

This study uses new data on insect biodiversity from a modern sheep farm environment in southern Greenland, and compares the results with fossil assemblages from the same region and other relevant sites in Greenland. The study was conducted on sheep farms at Tasiusaq and Qorlortup Itinnera in southern Greenland (61°N, 45°W). Data have also been dra...

Results from AMS dating applied to insect chitin from a variety of contexts and different preservation conditions and retrieval methods are presented. Secure contexts, which include other dated organic material from different geographic locations ranging from Egypt to Greenland and different chronological periods, from Lateglacial to Medieval, have...

Analysis of insect fossil remains retrieved from a bog close to the abandoned farm at Gammelhemmet, near Lycksele in Swedish Lapland, enabled the reconstruction of environmental changes at the site over the last 2500 years. These results represent the first late Holocene palaeoentomological succession studied for insect remains in the Västerbotten...

This paper discusses North Atlantic insect biota and their origins in relation to climate change in the North Atlantic. The debate concerning biotic survival in refugia or immigration to a clean slate is argued from a fossil insect point of view. The hypothesis for the survival of the fauna during the last Ice Age is challenged by the lack of endem...

Attributing a season and a date to the volcanic eruption of Santorini in the Aegean has become possible by using preserved remains of the bean weevil, Bruchus rufipes, pests of pulses, from the storage jars of the West House, in the Bronze Age settlement at Akrotiri. We have applied an improved pre-treatment methodology for dating the charred insec...

Palaeoecological research based on insect remains from the vicinity of a Norse farm at Tasiusaq in southwest Greenland provides information on the area surrounding the farm and new information on extirpations attributed to human impact. Anthropochorous species (spread by people) from the farm faunas are lacking in the assemblages, and the natural f...

Palaeoecological research based on insect remains from the vicinity of a Norse farm at Tasiusaq in southwest Greenland provides information on the area surrounding the farm and new information on extirpations attributed to human impact. Anthropochorous species (spread by people) from the farm faunas are lacking in the assemblages, and the natural f...

Initial European, Norse, settlement in south-west Greenland lasted from the late tenth to the fifteenth century, with an economy largely based on secondary products from sheep, goats and cattle, supplemented by caribou and marine mammal hunting. Sustainable subsistence farming required acquisition of sufficient fodder, principally hay, to feed stal...

Southwest Greenland was settled, largely from Iceland, at the end of the tenth century. Agriculture, based upon secondary products from domestic animals, lasted until the fifteenth century when the last farms were finally abandoned. From the twelfth century, the inhabitants had their own bishop and cathedral at Gar冒ar in the more southerly Eastern...

An insect fauna associated with the medieval burial of Archbishop Greenfield, interred in December 1315 in a lead coffin within a stone sarcophagus beneath the floor of York Minster, is examined and compared with the limited entomological data from other medieval burials. The implications of the archaeoentomological data are discussed. The fauna is...

Initial European, Norse, settlement in southwest Greenland lasted from the late tenth to the fifteenth century, with an economy largely based on secondary products from sheep, goats and cattle, supplemented by caribou and marine mammal hunting. Sustainable subsistence farming required acquisition of sufficient fodder, principally hay, to feed stall...

The late Holocene landscape and environment at Sandhavn in Greenland's Eastern Settlement are considered in the light of recent palaeoentomological investigations. Samples dating to post-Norse peat accumulation suggest that Norse activity had no lasting effect on the beetle fauna and environment at Sandhavn after its abandonment in the Medieval per...

Bateman, M. D., Buckland, P. C., Whyte, M. A., Ashurst, R. A., Boulter, C. & Panagiotakopulu, E. 2011: Re-evaluation of the Last Glacial Maximum typesite at Dimlington, UK. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2011.00204.x. ISSN 0300-9483. Recent erosion has allowed re-examination of the stratigraphy and sampling for both optically stimulated luminescence d...

The city of Akhetaten, modern day Amarna, was founded by the monotheist pharoah Akhenaten as his new capital ca. 1353 BC, and abandoned within about 25 years. Much of the site has been excavated over the past century and few deposits remain undisturbed. In one house, however, that of the king's chief charioteer, Ranefer, rebuilding had sealed occup...

Environmental change has a human dimension, and has had so for at least the last 10 000 years. The prehistoric impact of people on the Arctic landscape has occasionally left visible traces, such as house and field structures. More often than not, however, the only evidence available is at the microscopic or geochemical level, such as fossil insect...

The city of Akhetaten, modern day Amarna, was founded by the monotheist pharoah Akhenaten as his new capital ca. 1353 BC, and abandoned within about 25 years. Much of the site has been excavated over the past century and few deposits remain undisturbed. In one house, however, that of the king's chief charioteer, Ranefer, rebuilding had sealed occup...

The occurrence of an occasional pest of mouldy stored product residues, the blind flightless beetle Aglenus brunneus Gyll., in samples from the medieval farm at Reykholt in Iceland, along with several other strongly synanthropic beetles, is considered in relation to its fossil record. The species is dependent on man for its dispersal and survival a...

Palaeoenvironmental data are presented from the site of Garðar (modern Igaliku), the location of the cathedral and the bishop's farm in the Norse Eastern Settlement of Greenland. The latter was founded from c. AD 985 and abandoned some time during the fifteenth century. Inspection of drainage ditches located in close proximity to the settlement rui...

The fate of Norse farming settlements in southwest Greenland has often been seen as one of the great mysteries of North Atlantic colonization and expansion. Preservation of organic remains in the permafrost of the area of the Western Settlement, inland from the modern capital Nuuk, allowed very detailed study of the phases of occupation. Samples we...

Cultural sediments containing significant amounts of fish bone at Langenesvaeret, Vesterålen, Northern Norway provide an opportunity to characterise activity during and prior to the establishment of a late medieval commercial fishing station (fiskevaer). Radiometric and AMS dating techniques are used to establish a chronology for the deposits, whil...

The Norse colonisation or landnám of the North Atlantic islands of the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland, from the ninth century AD onwards, provides opportunities to examine human environmental impacts on ‘pristine’ landscapes of an environmental gradient from warmer more maritime conditions in the east to colder more continental conditions in the wes...

Fossil flies from archaeological settlements can give information on details of everyday life, hygiene, disease and death. Previous work is reviewed and recent research on material from a Greenlandic farm shows the range of the technique and highlights its potential to reconstruct important aspects of human activities that otherwise go unnoticed.

Aim This paper examines the possibility that bubonic plague was a disease endemic in the wild rodent population of Egypt and East Africa. Location The study focuses on Egypt and the Nile Valley during the Pharaonic period. Methods This paper presents a hypothesis based on archaeoentomological, archaeozoological and biogeographical information on th...

The identification of insects preserved in pharaonic antiquities stored in the Egyptian Museum of Turin provides new information on aspects of biogeography, storage and trade. The khapra beetle, Trogoderma granarium, the biscuit beetle, Stegobium paniceum, and the house fly, Musca domestica, were recovered from food offerings from tombs in Egypt, a...

Recent work on material from New Kingdom and Byzantine Amarna has considerably expanded our knowledge of the insect fauna of Egypt. As well as presenting new fossil records, the paper reviews archaeoentomological work from mummies, offerings and archaeological material and attempts to highlight the necessity of fossil insect study in the archaeolog...

The preservation of ectoparasites in archaeological sites is normally problematic, but the dry environment of the Egyptian desert keeps even the very fragile remains of fleas intact. Fleas, Siphonaptera, can be divided in three large groups: the sedentary fleas that live in the nest of their hosts, the mobile fleas that still require a nest but can...

The use of a wide range of narcotic drugs in antiquity has been widely documented, although archaeologists have sometimes been too credulous of apparently scientific data, and have failed to appreciate the post-excavation histories of artefacts, including mummies. This paper examines the discovery of tobacco in the m u m m y of Rameses II, provides...

The use of a wide range of narcotic drugs in antiquity has been widely documented, although archaeologists have sometimes been too credulous of apparently scientific data, and have failed to appreciate the post-excavation histories of artefacts, including mummies. This paper examines the discovery of tobacco in the mummy of Rameses II, provides an...

Bed bugs have been troubling humans for at least 3550 years, as shown by examples from Tell el-Amarna. Here we report on the bug's habits and history, as revealed by archaeology.

Well-preserved animal coprolites were recovered from the Workmen's Village, associated with the construction of the tombs of the XVIII Dynasty at Amarna in Egypt during the mid-14th centurybc. The purely archaeological evidence has been interpreted as indicating the source of the dung as pigs, which was supported by study of endoparasite remains. C...

Toftanes is a Viking age farmstead in the coastal village of Leirvík, Eysturoy. Excavations in the 1980s revealed four buildings, thousands of finds and radiocarbon dates which extend back to perhaps the 9th century AD. This is the first complex farmstead of the Viking Age landnám settlement to have been completely excavated in the Faroe Islands. O...

A report on insect pests from botanical remains kept at the Liverpool Museum.

What were the fine garments vividly painted in the Minoan frescoes made of? Fine cotton (cotton from Egypt is still prized today)? Or the yet finer fabric of silk? And if silk, where did the stuff, or knowledge of cultivating the silk-worms, come from? A cocoon from Santorini offers new evidence.

Archaeoentomological and palaeobotanical research at the Late Bronze Age site of Akrotiri on the Greek island of Santorini has suggested that natural insecticides and insect repellents were used in the storerooms of the site. A wide range of methods such as airtight storage, use of plant and animal substances, oils, minerals and ash were employed t...

The remains of insect pests of field crops and stores from the Late Bronze Age site of Santorini, destroyed by a large eruption some 3500 yr ago are discussed. These include Bruchus rufipes, Oryzaephilus sp., Rhyzopertha dominica and Sitophilus granarius. The possible pest status of the blind, troglodytic weevil Troglorhynchus anophthalmus in store...