The taphonomy and preservation of wood and dung ashes found in archaeological cooking installations: case studies from Iron Age Israel

Gur-Arieh, Shira; Shahack‐Gross, Ruth; Maeir, Aren M.; Lehmann, Gunnar; Hitchcock, Louise A.; Boaretto, Elisabetta

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2014.03.011

Cited by 101 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…3000 years old fired pottery is only partial (apparent by the presence of an OH band at 3620 cm −1 , while the OH band at 3690 cm −1 is absent). Similar observations were made by Berna et al (2007), Eliyahu-Behar et al (2012, Gur-Arieh et al (2013, 2014 and Friesem et al (2014a) who worked in various locations in Israel, Uzbekistan and Greece, where different types of soils and sediments occur. They all point to the same spectral changes in heated clay minerals, and show that these spectral changes are preserved for thousands of years.…”

Section: Background To the Study Of Mud Bricks In Conflagration Eventsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…It is however unclear whether this heat-affected calcite originates from heated sediment carbonates and/or from mixing vegetal ash products with sediment during brick manufacture. Two observations support the second option, (a) the mud bricks contain phosphate minerals and (b) the high concentrations of phytoliths, both materials are well documented in hearth and oven ashes from both ethnoarchaeological and archaeological contexts, including at Tel Megiddo (Gur-Arieh et al, 2013;2014). We therefore suggest that the recipe of preparation of the Level Q-7 mud bricks included a mixture of ash rake-out from ovens and hearths with natural sediment.…”

Section: Brick Composition and Manufacturementioning

confidence: 63%

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Physical and mineralogical properties of experimentally heated chaff-tempered mud bricks: Implications for reconstruction of environmental factors influencing the appearance of mud bricks in archaeological conflagration events

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Regev

Friesem

et al. 2015

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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Section: Background To the Study Of Mud Bricks In Conflagration Eventsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Brick Composition and Manufacturementioning

confidence: 63%

Physical and mineralogical properties of experimentally heated chaff-tempered mud bricks: Implications for reconstruction of environmental factors influencing the appearance of mud bricks in archaeological conflagration events

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Regev

Friesem

et al. 2015

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“…Livestock dung fuels have been investigated in terms of their archaeological evidence and experimentally described (e.g., Braadbaart et al 2012;Canti 2003;Gur-Arieh et al 2014; Matthews 2010; Shahack-Gross 2011; Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein 2008). The burning of dung produces microscopic sedimentary components that can be readily identified by the presence of calcitic dung spherulites, burned organic plant tis-sues (which can include ash pseudomorphs), and residual inorganic components (Brochier 1983;Matthews 2010; Shahack-Gross 2011).…”

Section: Animal Dung Peat and Turf As Fuel Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Approaches to Archaeological Fire Features and Their Behavioral Relevance

Aldeias¹

2017

Current Anthropology

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The uses and functions of fire in early human adaptations are commonly debated and at times very controversial topics. It is important to recognize under what circumstances and conditions specific fire-related traces can be produced and preserved in the archaeological record. Currently, a growing body of data is emerging on the application of experimental research to the study of archaeological hearths and their residues. In this review, I draw together aspects of such available experimental data, particularly those pertaining to the sedimentary expression and components produced during simple campfires. I highlight not only what one can find in ideal preservation conditions but also what type of indirect alteration proxies can be expected to survive in the archaeological record. I then discuss the implications of such data for analyzing anthropic fire features, their timing, and their meaning in terms of behavioral complexity in the use and manufacture of fire during the Paleolithic.

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“…(2) Given the solubility of calcitic dung spherulites and ash pseudomorphs, the presence of both microremains within the sealed archaeological contexts of Structure 1 argues for relatively good preservation of this sediment (see Gur-Arieh et al 2014, for a solubility test of spherulites vs. pseudomorphs). (3) Given the good preservation of the calcitic microremains, dung spherulites and ash pseudomorphs, there is no reason to assume that phytoliths are not well preserved.…”

Section: The Nearby Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Geoarchaeological Investigation at the Intermediate Bronze Age Negev Highlands Site of Mashabe Sade

et al. 2016

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Massive settlement activity characterizes the arid Negev Highlands during the Intermediate Bronze Age (ca. 2500(ca. -1950. However, the underlying subsistence basis of this population is poorly understood. Recent microarchaeological work at Iron Age sites in the Negev Highlands has shown the potential for recovering direct evidence for subsistence practices through analysis of the microscopic plant remains in degraded animal dung. Following these methods, this paper reports new macro-and microarchaeological results of two sites near Mashabe Sade: a central Intermediate Bronze Age site, and for comparison, an ephemeral site in the immediate vicinity. At the central site, dated to the Intermediate Bronze Age by pottery and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL), evidence is absent for any sort of food production. In contrast, identification of ancient livestock dung at the ephemeral site suggests that it was sustained by animal husbandryyet the OSL results suggest these degraded dung deposits date to the Iron Age. Taken together, the Intermediate Bronze Age results from Mashabe Sade bolster arguments suggesting that central sites were supported mainly by trade and other alternative subsistence practices. Keywords Mashabe Sade, Negev Highlands, Intermediate Bronze Age, MicroarchaeologyAfter nearly a century of research, the Intermediate Bronze Age is still an enigmatic period in the settlement history of the southern Levant. Traditionally dated to ca. 2300-2000 BCE (e.g., Palumbo 2001), the Intermediate Bronze Age is characterized by the cessation of * Co-directors of the Negev Highlands Project. urban activity throughout the region, and a unique wave of settlement in the arid zones, especially the Negev Highlands. The impetus behind this dramatic settlement oscillation is unclear, though scholars have variously associated the phenomenon with changing political (e.g., Kochavi 1967), demographic (e.g., Kenyon 1951;Prag 1985), socio-economic (e.g., Dever 1980), and climatic conditions (e.g., Rosen 1987; Frumkin 2009).Until very recently, debate over the nature of the Intermediate Bronze Age had mellowed into a general consensus that the period was characterized in the north of modern Israel by a shift from urban life to rural agro-pastoralism (Finkelstein 1995: 88), and in the Negev, to subsistence practices characterized by animal husbandry and opportunistic agriculture (Dever 1985;Cohen 1999;Palumbo 2001). Hoards of copper ingots found at sites throughout the southern Levant, and the recent discovery of an Intermediate Bronze Age copper production centre in Wadi Faynan, suggest that a developed copper trade economy supported the Negev settlement system Recently, an analysis of radiocarbon determinations from secure archaeological contexts redated the Intermediate Bronze Age to ca. 2500-1950 BCE (Regev et al. 2012. This changes the equation between the Intermediate Bronze Age and Egyptian history and hence forces a re-evaluation of the Intermediate Bronze Age in general, and the role of Negev settlement systems wi...

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The taphonomy and preservation of wood and dung ashes found in archaeological cooking installations: case studies from Iron Age Israel

Cited by 101 publications

References 32 publications

Physical and mineralogical properties of experimentally heated chaff-tempered mud bricks: Implications for reconstruction of environmental factors influencing the appearance of mud bricks in archaeological conflagration events

Physical and mineralogical properties of experimentally heated chaff-tempered mud bricks: Implications for reconstruction of environmental factors influencing the appearance of mud bricks in archaeological conflagration events

Experimental Approaches to Archaeological Fire Features and Their Behavioral Relevance

Geoarchaeological Investigation at the Intermediate Bronze Age Negev Highlands Site of Mashabe Sade

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