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Contribution to the archaeozoology of the Brandberg, Namibia
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Man and environment in the territory of Sagalassos, a classical city in SW Turkey
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Since 1990 archaeological research by the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) has been carried out at the ancient site of Sagalassos (Aǧlasun, Burdur province, Southwestern Turkey). At first, research focused on the excavation of the city and the study of the immediate vicinity which provided it with raw materials. The main objective was to obtain a clear picture of the history and development of the city. Since 1993 research has also incorporated a study of the territory of the Roman city, from prehistoric to modern times, in order to understand why the site was selected for settlement, why it developed into a middle-sized town, its economy and subsistence, how it affected and exploited the environment, its decline, and what changes have taken place in the district subsequently. The focus has now shifted towards obtaining a better understanding of the linkages between human and environment systems so that inter-relations between the two can be more readily understood. As a result, a number of environmental topics concerning the territory of the Roman city are presently being studied. This territory extended from Lake Burdur in the West to the Aksu canyon in the East, from the Aǧlasun Daǧlari in the North to Mt. Kestel in the South. Interdisciplinary research revealed that for the early Neolithic and the Roman period there was a slightly warmer climate, a richer vegetation and more fertile soils for agricultural practice.
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The fauna of Kadero and the arrival of pastoralism in the Nile Valley of Central Sudan
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Exploitation of desert and other wild game in ancient Egypt: the archaeozoological evidence from the Nile Valley
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Bone evidence for wild game found at Late Palaeolithic to New Kingdom sites in the Egyptian Nile Valley is summarised. The compiled data indicate that hartebeest, aurochs and gazelle were the main species hunted during the Late Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic. Populations of hartebeest and aurochs were essentially limited to the Nile Valley proper, whereas gazelles could be found in semi-desert and desert environments as well. The population densities of hartebeest and aurochs were probably never very high because of the narrow floodplain, especially in Upper Egypt, and the seasonal effect of the inundations of the Nile. From the Neolithic onwards, domestic livestock took over the role of game as the most important meat provider. Nevertheless, hunting continued to be practiced, and bones of wild game seem to be more important in contexts associated with elite sections of society and/or with ritual activities. Populations of hartebeest and aurochs declined after the Palaeolithic, no doubt because of competition with humans and their flocks. During the Predynastic period, the decline is most clear in Upper Egypt, where from then onwards, the emphasis shifts to gazelles. The Predynastic elite cemetery at Hierakonpolis (locality HK6) yielded the oldest osteological evidence of keeping wild animals in confinement. During the Old to New Kingdom periods, game animals continue to be found in small quantities and from then on, the populations of aurochs and hartebeest may also have started to decline in Lower Egypt. The animals found in the archaeozoological record of the Dynastic period differ from those in the iconographic sources, both quantitatively and qualitatively, except for the gazelles which occur frequently both in the faunal remains and on depictions. The discrepancies can partly be due to the fact that very few ritual, archaeological contexts with fauna are available. The most striking observation from this survey is that true desert animals, such as addax, oryx and ibex, are extremely rare in the archaeozoological record of all periods of the Nile Valley and that the sparse bone finds hence contradict the abundant occurrence and exploitation of these animals suggested by Dynastic iconographical data.
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Contexte chronostratigraphique et paléoenvironnemental de la séquence de la grotte Walou : synthèse et perspectives
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Ce chapitre propose une synthèse de l’ensemble des disciplines présentées dans les deux premiers volumes consacrés aux fouilles 1996-2004 à la grotte Walou (volume 1 : sciences de la terre ; volume 2 : sciences de la vie et datations). Il livre un cadre précis aux données archéologiques analysées dans le troisième et dernier volume de cette monographie, ainsi que des perspectives relatives tant aux recherches qui restent à entreprendre à Walou qu’à celles qui concernent les remplissages des autres grottes du bassin mosan.
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Defining ‘natural’ fish communities for fishery management purposes: biological, historical and archaeological approaches
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Fishing in the Senegal River during the Iron Age: the evidence from the habitation mounds of Cubalel and Siouré
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A description is given of the fish remains from six settlement mounds located along the Senegal River that cover an occupation of approximately 1800 years. The 22 fish taxa found at the sites are described and attention is focussed on their spatial and, especially, temporal distribution. The place and season of capture are established and the possible fishing techniques are reconstructed. Using diachronic trends seen in the size distribution of the fish, it is argued that the ichthyofauna of the Middle Senegal Valley already shows effects of overfishing during the course of the first millennium AD.
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Biologically-controlled mineralization in the hypercalcified sponge Petrobiona massiliana (Calcarea, Calcaronea)
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Hypercalcified sponges, endowed with a calcium carbonate basal skeleton in addition to their spicules, form one of the most basal metazoan group engaged in extensive biomineralization. The Mediterranean species Petrobiona massiliana was used to investigate biological controls exerted on the biomineralization of its basal skeleton. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) confirmed that basopinacocytes form a discontinuous layer of flattened cells covering the skeleton and display ultrastructural features attesting intense secretory activity. The production of a highly structured fibrillar organic matrix framework by basopinacocytes toward the growing skeleton was highlighted both by potassium pyroantimonate and ruthenium red protocols, the latter further suggesting the presence of sulfated glycosaminoglycans in the matrix. Furthermore organic material incorporated into the basal skeleton was shown by SEM and TEM at different structural levels while its response to alcian blue and acridine orange staining might suggest a similar acidic and sulfated chemical composition in light microscopy. Potassium pyroantimonate revealed in TEM and energy electron loss spectroscopy (EELS) analysis, heavy linear precipitates 100–300 nm wide containing Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions, either along the basal cell membrane of basopinacocytes located toward the decalcified basal skeleton or around decalcified spicules in the mesohyl. Based on the results of the previous mineralogical characterization and the present work, an hypothetical model of biomineralization is proposed for P. massiliana: basopinacocytes would produce an extracellular organic framework that might guide the assemblage of submicronic amorphous Ca- and Mg-bearing grains into higher structural units.
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Contextual analysis at Sagalassos
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Fish remains from Bronze Age to Byzantine levels
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