Extraction of underwater fragile artifacts: research status and prospect

There are still many difficulties in the recovery and long-term preservation of underwater archaeological artifacts, in situ preservation should be the first choice before further procedures are considered. However, the materials, preservation status, and preservation environment of underwater artifacts are diverse, resulting in many fragile artifacts facing difficult situations. In order to prevent serious damage, it is a safe protective strategy to preserve them in a controlled environment for a long time after excavation. Extraction and transfer of fragile cultural relics are vital parts of this strategy. Due to the complexity of the underwater environment and the vulnerability of fragile artifacts, safety in extraction and transfer still faces enormous challenges. Researchers have developed new materials and technologies to tackle this problem. This paper focuses on introducing and developing prospects to different preservation techniques for fragile artifacts from underwater sites.

The Study of the Northern Tungus in the Academic Project “History of Yakutia”

In this paper, it is noted that new development in the Tungus-Manchu studies has begun by the virtue of writing a three-volume work “History of Yakutia”. It was found that, as the result, a new stage of the development of the fundamental science in the field of research of the peoples of Yakutia has begun. It is emphasized that the developed concept of creating the large-volume work allowed conducting a multi-faceted investigation; new archival and other materials were drawn into research, which had not received sufficient attention previously. It is shown how, according to the concept of publishing “History of Yakutia”, in the mainstream of the history of the peoples of Yakutia, presentation of the existing material is possible not only from the point of view of the traditional ethnographic approach by each group individually and by all conventional means of subsistence of the ethnic culture. It is concluded that the development and transformation of the territory by the nomadic Tungus-Manchu Cultures was actively manifested in the expansion to the North (an example of Even-Bytantai Ulus of Yakutia can be noted) and to the East (notably, to the Far East, including the insular territory of the Russian Federation). It is noted that the Tungus-Manchu peoples of Russia fell into the category of the “northern” nations in the very course of the development of the northern territories. These nations developed a unique school of adaptation of their culture to the environmental conditions of the northern spaces. It is the vision of the Tungus histoty as a whole, and of the history of small Tungus-Manchu nations, in particular, as a powerful momentum that played an important role in the history of the development of the vast territories, that seems new and topical. There have been presented examples of the updated source base for the study of the development of the territory by Tungus ethnic minorities, which reveals the potential of a synthesis of the study of the vocabulary and folklore of the Tungus-Manchu peoples and archaeological artifacts, in comparison with archival materials (primarily, archives of Yakutia.

The sacred symbolic meaning of ceramics glazed with a yellow background: possibilities of reconstruction (archaeological artifacts from the Kultobe settlement)

Turkistan’s ceramic style development occurred over several centuries and was formed by the Middle Ages. In Kazakh culture the ceramic art was raised up to an original artistic phenomenon. Studies of the production of South Kazakhstan pottery from the archeologic point of view has involved many Kazakh scientists such as: Karl Baipakov, Alexander Podushkin, Yerbolat Smagulov and many others. Their works are the foundation for further cultural and art historical interpretations of Kazakhstani pottery art, and they have contributed to Kazakhstan’s national art history. This article, based on the analysis of specific works representative of South Kazakhstan ceramics and on samples of ceramic production found during the archaeological research on Kultobe settlement (Turkistan, Turkistan region), presents the attempt to reconstruct the sacred and symbolic meaning of ceramics that are glazed with a yellow base. In the article, the authors study two main aspects: the relationship between the artistic language and the sign system (ornament and color), which can be called one of the visual reflections of a large number of languages in traditional culture. In particular, the article discusses folk ideas related to color, shape, and ornamentation of ceramic products and their relationship with ceremonial and ritual life. The materials in this work expand scientific knowledge of the genesis and specificity of traditional Kazakh crafts of South Kazakhstan, where pottery has been partially preserved to this day. The article was prepared within the project of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan AR09259862 “Research of traditional crafts of modern Kazakhstan: state and search for ways to preserve”.

Working with huacos: Archaeological ceramics and relationships among worlds in the Peruvian North Coast

This article proposes a multitemporal approach to the study of archaeological ceramics in the Peruvian North Coast through archaeological ethnography. It allows us to create a new perspective of a past that seems to be continuously brought back in the ritual practices of curanderos (shamans), and in the daily life of other subjects that interact with what archaeologists call archaeological artifacts. In the rituals of curanderos and in the practice of huaqueo, where archaeological ceramics are known as huacos, it is possible to see how these vessels come to life, performing within a complex meshwork of relationships which extend over different worlds, as well as human and other-than-human participation. This discussion provokes the reevaluation of the relationships among archaeological heritage, archaeological material, and archaeological practice itself. It also shows how past and present are related in this specific Andean context.

ANALYSIS OF CYPRUS ARCHEOLOGICAL CYLINDER SEAL VISUALS

People have tried to determine their "personality" and "property" rights by using special signs and symbols since ancient times. These symbols are the signs that people who lived together and formed a community in the conditions of that day that they agreed on. One of the human-made tools, on which these special personality and property markers appear are cylinder seals. Different expressions were made besides determining personality and property by means of text and images engraved on cylinder seals. In this research, cylinder seals, which are archaeological artifacts in the island of Cyprus, exhibited in museums and may be subject to the relevant literature were examined. The seals that make up the sample consist of cylinder seals exhibited in Cyprus archaeological museums, in the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum and the Cyprus artifacts sections of the John Hopkins Museum. The cylinder seals used by the communities and governments that have dominated Cyprus in the historical process have been investigated as visual imagery. Therefore, images on cylinder seals produced in Cyprus or neighbouring cultures between 2000 BC and 600 BC were investigated. In this research, the engravings on seals that were produced in neighbouring cultures and brought to Cyprus as a gift or were imported also examined. All figures made on the seals were produced in neighbouring cultures and brought to the island with different methods were also included in the study. In this context, the features of the motif, figure, inscription, decoration and patterns used on 191 cylinder seals obtained during the research process were investigated. As a result of the examination, figures which engraved on the seals was coded in accordance with their themes, all the images engraved on the seals were divided into categories. Six main categories were determined as a result of categorical division. Twenty-seven themes belonging to the identified main six categories were also determined. Among the scrapings on the cylinder seals that constitute the sample of the research; visuals that determine the variety of food production, agriculture, mining, blessing and sacrifice scenes, and demonstrating the scenes of a birthday of the seal owner were encountered. From the pictures drawn on the cave walls, it is known that such special signs or images serving different purposes were used. In this context, the fact that only pictorial images were engraved on some of the cylinder seals reveals the view that they existed before the writing and that the tradition of that period continued on the seal engraving after the writing was found.

A Method for Attributing Non-Refitting Fragments to a Single Artifact: The Case of Bronze Age Flat Figurines

In recent decades, several new methods for studying archaeological artifacts, mostly based on digital technologies, have been developed. One of the most promising trends is 3D modeling, allowing researchers to deal with an exact virtual copy of the artifact, which can be manipulated in every way. We propose a new method for determining whether non-applicable fragments belong to one artifact, based on 3D modeling and mathematical statistics. After applying it to two (and possibly more) fragments, one gets an unambiguous answer as to whether the application is statistically reliable (i.e., falls within 95 % confidence limits). Precise computerized measurements on 3D models, following a single algorithm, allow us to verify the results. This method was tested on non-refitting fragments of figurines from the Bronze Age cemetery Tourist-2. Two anthropomorphic figurines from the same cemetery were used to verify the conclusions and elaborate the algorithm.

Housebuilding of the Finno-Ugrians from the Forest Belt of the Middle Volga Region During the 2nd – 1st Millennia BC in the Works of Researchers of the 18th – Early 20th Centuries

Of considerable interest in the study of the housebuilding traditions and innovations of the Finno-Ugric population of the forest belt of the Middle Volga region are the works of the 18th – early 20th century researchers. In this period, random episodic surveys were carried out in the territory of the Middle Volga region. A significant event was the holding of the 4thArchaeological Congress in Kazan in 1877, during which it was decided to publish the annual scientific journal “Bulletin of the Society of Archaeology, History and Ethnography (IOAIE)”. The journal not only provided information about the newly discovered archaeological artifacts and sites, but also featured a scientific discussion concerning the possibility of housebuilding development across the population of the Middle Volga region. The issue of the construction of permanent structures in the territory was also of interest for geologists, natural scientists and ethnographers. In this regard, the purpose of the paper is to analyze the scientific works of the 18th – early 20th centuries dedicated to the study of the origins and development of housebuilding practiced by the population of the forest belt of the Middle Volga region in the 2nd – 1st millennium BC. The authors came to the conclusion that archaeological research and ethnographic realities presented in the scientific evidence of the 18th – early 20thcenturies are of great importance in terms of source studies for the research of the various aspects of the life of the ancient population of the region.

Provenance studies using lead isotopy: contribution of the consideration of geological contexts in archaeological databases

The question of sources of metal supply and the resulting trade circuits are at the heart of archaeological issues. Provenance studies using lead isotopy has been used since the 1980s to identify the ore deposits from which the metal composing an archaeological object is derived. Indeed, metallurgical processes do not affect the isotopic signature of lead, which remains unchanged between ore and finished product. However, such studies require mineral signature repositories. Archaeologists have therefore built up databases, rich in thousands of analyses. However, these databases only very rarely include gitological information. In addition, lead isotopes are also used in geology but in order to characterize the metallogenic phenomena that lead to the creation of ore deposits. This different type of study requires different sampling: unlike archaeological databases, which include many analyses by mine, geological repositories have very few measurements by deposit. However, although containing few analyses per mine, geological data allow reflection in terms of restricted mineralized subsets and observation of marked groupings in binary diagrams as well as in multidimensional projection. The integration of gitological contexts as qualitative data could thus avoid the problems of statistical discrimination that are common in studies of the provenance of archaeological artifacts. The databases created by geologists, which also count thousands of mineral analyses, can thus be perfectly integrated into production source tracing studies. The finesse of the statistical breakdowns provided by gitological data also opens up new possibilities for data processing through the use of multivariate statistics. Geographical uncertainties are then a function of the quality of the available gitological metadata. Lead isotopic analyses carried out as part of geological studies have much to contribute to the tracing of archaeological production sources.