Article
Geography, Physical
Petra Hajkova, Libor Petr, Michal Horsak, Eva Jamrichova, Jan Rolecek
Summary: Western Podillia is a biogeographic crossroads with rich biodiversity, maintaining an open or semi-open landscape since the Holocene. Multi-proxy studies reveal the environmental history of the region, showing the unusual combination of relatively humid climate and continuity of open landscapes.
QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Guangjiu Ling, Chunmei Ma, Qing Yang, Zhujun Hu, Hongbo Zheng, Bin Liu, Ningyuan Wang, Minghui Chen, Ye Zhao
Summary: The Liangzhu culture, considered as the testimony of Chinese civilization's five thousand year history, remains a topic of intense debate regarding its rise, fall, and disappearance. Through sedimentological analysis, researchers reconstructed the landscape evolution of the Liangzhu Ancient City area, showing that it transitioned from being widely exposed in the early Holocene to becoming a swamp and saline area in the late Holocene.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Valentino Romano, Giulio Catalano, Giuseppe Bazan, Francesco Cali, Luca Sineo
Summary: Sicily, as a Mediterranean island, serves as a bridge connecting Africa, the Near East, and Europe, with a population history marked by stratification of settlements and admixture events. Archaeogenetic studies aim to reconstruct the cultural and demographic dynamics of Sicily, revealing ecological constraints and human settlement patterns across different periods. Lessons from the past use of landscape provide models for sustainable future management of the Mediterranean's landscapes.
Article
Anthropology
M. Angeles Galindo-Pellicena, Nohemi Sala, Ignacio De Gaspar, Eneko Iriarte, Raquel Blazquez-Orta, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Jose Miguel Carretero, Nuria Garcia
Summary: Archaeological studies at the El Portalon de Cueva Mayor site in Spain have revealed evidence of dog consumption, particularly during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, indicating that domestic dogs were occasionally part of the human diet, possibly due to food shortages or the consideration of dog meat as a delicacy.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
George Alexandrakis, Stelios Petrakis, Nikolaos A. Kampanis
Summary: Understanding the processes that govern coastal landscape evolution is crucial, with Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating techniques showing promise in directly dating coastal sediments. The Ammoudara beach dune field was formed before the Bronze Age, with high coastal erosion rates calculated for modern times.
Article
Geography, Physical
Yao Zhang, Laurent Marquer, Qiaoyu Cui, Zhuo Zheng, Yan Zhao, Qiuchi Wan, Aifeng Zhou
Summary: The Qinling Mountain Range serves as a transition zone between temperate and subtropical ecosystems in Eastern Central China. Climate changes have influenced vegetation composition, with warmer and moister conditions supporting temperate and subtropical tree growth, and cooler and drier conditions leading to increased open land. Land use practices, such as deforestation for agriculture, have intensified these trends over millennia. The vegetation in this transition zone is primarily influenced by climate, but the impact of land use has been more significant in the temperate zone compared to the subtropical zone.
QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Archaeology
C. Papaodysseus, E. Mamatsi, A. R. Mamatsis, C. Blackwell, D. Arabadjis, A. Harami
Summary: This study analyzes the drawing method of famous wall paintings from the civilizations of Akrotiri, Minoan Crete, and Mycenean Boeotia. The authors discovered that the borderlines of all figures in these frescoes were drawn using six geometric stencils-guides, including hyperbolae and Archimedes spirals. This advanced technique challenges previous beliefs about the development of mathematical curves in ancient civilizations.
JOURNAL OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Esmeralda Cruz-Silva, Sandy P. Harrison, I. Colin Prentice, Elena Marinova
Summary: This study reconstructs vegetation changes in the Eastern Mediterranean region since 12,000 years ago, revealing that non-analogue vegetation types peaked during the early Holocene, forest expansion was synchronous across the region, and there was an expansion of moisture-demanding temperate trees around 5,500 to 5,000 years ago. There is no continuous late Holocene aridification, but changes in forest cover appear to be primarily influenced by climate.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Bulent Arikan, Franziska Mohr, Matthias Buergi
Summary: This study highlights the potential of landscape archaeology in studying long-term sustainability issues, particularly those related to modes of production. The archaeological perspective on landscapes can be combined with expertise from landscape ecologists, suggesting a more in-depth collaboration between these two fields to offer diverse yet complementary perspectives.
Article
Religion
Simone Zimmermann Kuoni
Summary: The Minoan peak sanctuaries serve as an important island phenomenon, revealing the earliest healing cult in the Aegean region; research suggests a mysterious connection between weasels and childbirth/midwives, possibly due to the animal's medicinal role in ancient obstetrics; analysis of archaeological evidence uncovers a network of interconnected animals and plants related to female therapeutics across the Near East and the Mediterranean.
Article
Biology
abel Peter Molnar, Laszlo Demeter, Marianna Biro, Milan Chytry, Sandor Bartha, Batdelger Gantuya, Zsolt Molnar
Summary: Recent studies have questioned the prevailing paradigm about the Quaternary ecological and evolutionary history of Central European ecosystems, and proposed an alternative hypothesis. By synthesising recent advances in various research fields and analysing the cold tolerance of native flora, it was found that the flora in the Carpathian Basin has long-term continuity. This has important implications for understanding local biogeography and ecology, as well as developing conservation strategies for ancient species-rich ecosystems and local gene pools.
BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Chris J. Stevens, Enrico R. Crema, Shinya Shoda
Summary: This study examines the changing importance of wild starch-rich plant staples in early agricultural societies in East Asia and Europe, revealing variations in the reliance on wild plant staples compared to domesticated crops. The relative importance of wild plant staples reflects the stability and dependability of agricultural and social systems.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Jack Longman, Daniel Veres, Aritina Haliuc, Walter Finsinger, Vasile Ersek, Daniela Pascal, Tiberiu Sava, Robert Begy
Summary: This study examines the carbon accumulation rates of mountainous peatlands in central-eastern Europe, revealing that these peatlands can act as efficient regional carbon sinks influenced by hydroclimatic controls. The research also suggests that under future climate conditions, warmer temperatures may lead to increased peat growth, contingent upon the scale of human impact on the hydrological budget of these peatlands.
CLIMATE OF THE PAST
(2021)
Article
Geography, Physical
Adrian Alvarez-Vena, Ana B. Marin-Arroyo, Diego J. Alvarez-Lao, Cesar Laplana, Martin Arriolabengoa, Daniel Ballesteros, Arantza Aranburu, Peru Bilbao, Yolanda Diaz-Casado
Summary: The Punta Lucero III cave is a natural trap where a large number of vertebrate remains from the Meghalayan (Late Holocene) period were found. The micromammal assemblage from this cave, consisting of 19 taxa and 1396 individuals, provides insights into the paleoenvironmental conditions. Over a span of approximately 2600 years, the micromammal community underwent a rapid turnover, indicating a shift from patchy forests and humid meadows to open, shrubbier grasslands. These changes in the micromammal community were influenced by climatic variations during the Late Holocene Thermal Maximum, the Iron Age Cold Epoch, and the Roman Warm Period. In addition, this study highlights the impact of human culture on the mammalian turnover.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Rafael Alcala Herrera, Antonio Garcia-Fuentes, Maria Eugenia Ramos-Font, Ma Luisa Fernandez-Sierra, Francisca Ruano
Summary: Promoting semi-natural habitats such as cover and patch vegetation can help mitigate the negative impacts of agricultural practices. Understanding the baseline situation is crucial before attempting any habitat manipulation. Our study found that vegetation cover management techniques and transect position have a significant impact on the richness and diversity of plant communities. The Asteraceae and Fabaceae families are the most dominant in the cover vegetation, while the Rosaceae and Fagaceae families are predominant in the patch vegetation. The genus Chrysoperla is closely associated with the Plantaginaceae, Brassicaceae, and Asteraceae families in the cover vegetation.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hector A. Orengo, Francesc C. Conesa, Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Agustin Lobo, Adam S. Green, Marco Madella, Cameron A. Petrie
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2020)
Article
Anthropology
Alexandra Livarda, Georgia Kotzamani
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
Archaeology
Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Hector A. Orengo, Dan Lawrence, Graham Philip, Kristen Hopper, Cameron A. Petrie
Summary: Historical maps are important sources of archaeological information, and deep learning techniques have the potential to automatically extract archaeological information from historical maps. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of deep learning techniques in extracting archaeological information from historical maps.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ariadna Nieto Espinet, Thomas Huet, Angela Trentacoste, Silvia Guimaraes, Hector Orengo, Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas
Summary: The study reveals changes in the relationship between territory and livestock production from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity, with market demands and a more integrated economic model increasingly impacting husbandry strategies. These changes are reflected in shifts in land use and forms of territorial occupation, albeit at varying rates and in different directions.
Article
Archaeology
Hector A. Orengo, Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Iban Berganzo-Besga, Juergen Landauer, Paloma Aliende, Sergi Tres-Martinez
Summary: This paper presents the latest developments in drone-based automated survey technology in archaeology and how improvements have been made to enhance detection capabilities and implementation into an open-source system for widespread use.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Leslie J. K. Bode, Alexandra Livarda, Matthew D. Jones
Summary: This paper presents the first archaeobotanical results on plant macroremains from the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic site of Kharaneh IV in the Azraq basin, providing new insights into local environmental conditions and hunter-gatherer lifeways in the southern Levant. Comparisons with other Epipalaeolithic sites reveal similarities and differences, supporting the idea of an ecological mosaic in the Azraq basin and a general pattern of local resource use across the wider region.
VEGETATION HISTORY AND ARCHAEOBOTANY
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Ana Ejarque, Ramon Julia, Pere Castanyer, Hector A. Orengo, Josep Maria Palet, Santiago Riera
Summary: The Emporda plain is a unique area where Late-Holocene cultural exchanges and colonial processes have shaped the landscape. This study examines the landscape changes related to indigenous and colonial settlement in this region by analyzing archaeological and environmental data. The findings show that different societies had different impacts on the landscape construction and land use practices.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Iban Berganzo-Besga, Hector A. Orengo, Felipe Lumbreras, Miguel Carrero-Pazos, Joao Fonte, Benito Vilas-Estevez
Summary: This study introduces an algorithm that combines LiDAR and multispectral satellite data for large-scale automatic detection of burial mounds. By utilizing a combination of random forest and deep learning models, it significantly improves the detection rate and recall values compared to previous attempts, achieving the goal of detecting burial mounds across a wide area.
Article
Anthropology
Mercourios Georgiadis, Constantina Kallintzi, Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Hector A. Orengo, Eurydice Kefalidou, Paraskevi Motsiou
Summary: This paper presents the preliminary results of the APAX project, a systematic regional survey conducted in Greek Thrace using intensive pedestrian sample collection. The research investigated different landscape settings in the Xanthi area and developed different collection strategies based on the visibility conditions of the study areas. The results provided quantitative and qualitative spatial data on the distribution of ancient activities, particularly during the Archaic and Classical periods, and allowed for an assessment of the Greek colonists and indigenous Thracians.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Alex R. Knodell, Toby C. Wilkinson, Thomas P. Leppard, Hector A. Orengo
Summary: This paper describes the development and state of archaeological surface survey in the Mediterranean, emphasizing its various regional traditions. It highlights the contributions of Mediterranean survey to wider dialogues in world archaeology, particularly in sampling and research design, interpretation of surface assemblages, and integration of multidisciplinary datasets. Mediterranean landscape survey provides comparative data and potential research strategies for global issues such as human ecology, demography, urban-rural dynamics, and political formations.
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Anthropology
Iban Berganzo-Besga, Hector A. Orengo, Felipe Lumbreras, Paloma Aliende, Monica N. Ramsey
Summary: This paper presents an algorithm that automates the detection and classification of multi-cell phytoliths using a deep learning model. With a high overall accuracy, the algorithm shows potential for automatic classification of phytolith genera and species. The open code and platforms used also ensure the accessibility, reproducibility, and reusability of the method.
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Francesc C. Conesa, Hector A. Orengo, Agustin Lobo, Cameron A. Petrie
Summary: This article introduces AgriExp, a remote-based workflow using Google Earth Engine to rapidly map and monitor endangered archaeological and cultural heritage locations threatened by agricultural expansion. The algorithm utilizes Sentinel-2 imagery to map vegetation changes and provides spatial indicators of potential site disturbance. It also incorporates multi-temporal imagery for photo-interpretation of critically endangered sites. AgriExp was successfully tested in the Cholistan Desert and the algorithm code is provided for easy implementation in other areas.
Article
Environmental Studies
Iban Berganzo-Besga, Hector A. Orengo, Joan Canela, Maria Carme Belarte
Summary: This paper presents a method for merging lidar-derived point clouds from different moments to generate a higher resolution digital terrain model. The method includes vegetation filtering, classification of unclassified point clouds, and the use of a multi-scale relief visualization tool.
Article
Humanities, Multidisciplinary
Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Hector A. A. Orengo, Cameron A. A. Petrie
Summary: Alluvial floodplains have played a significant role in the development and transformation of agrarian-based societies. Due to their dynamic nature and geomorphological processes, accessing the archaeological record of these floodplains can be challenging. Additionally, the expansion of urban and agricultural areas poses threats to cultural heritage and the environment. This study combines Historical Cartography and Remote Sensing sources to identify archaeological sites and study the hydrological history of the Indus River basin. The integration of computational methods and analysis of datasets provides insights into settlement patterns and the potential implications for future research, heritage documentation, and preservation.
Article
Anthropology
Alexandra Livarda, Hector A. Orengo, Nuria Canellas-Bolta, Santiago Riera-Mora, Llorenc Picornell-Gelabert, Vasiliki Tzevelekidi, Rena Veropoulidou, Ricard Marlasca Martin, Athanasia Krahtopoulou
Summary: The study reveals a highly compartmentalized landscape in east Crete, with intensive crop cultivation and extensive animal herding, particularly with a specialization in ovicaprine management at Palaikastro and east Crete. Marine resources were also regularly exploited, while viticulture and olive tree management played crucial roles in the local economy.
JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
(2021)